Colossians 4:7-18 The Resurrection for Real People

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The Empty Tomb and the Hope of Resurrection

Remember, his body was not there. Those who desperately, in that context, in that ancient context, those who wanted to disprove the resurrection could not disprove it. They couldn't. Those who were accused of lying about the resurrection eventually were even themselves put to death because they would not deny that they saw him alive.

And the impact that he's made on my own life, the impact he has made on your life, the amazing history of even this very church testifies that Jesus Christ is not dead, but he rose again, just like he said he would.

Down through the ages, and it seems like a really modern phenomenon that on Easter it's quite common for me as a pastor to say, or the pastor or the leader to say something like, he has risen, and then the congregation can respond with, he has risen indeed.

And so I would like to do that this morning just as a participation. So when I say, he has risen, you can reply, he is risen, amen. This morning I'm going to attempt to do something a bit out of the ordinary for Easter.

I've been preaching a series on the book of Colossians, and I'm going to be wrapping up that last chapter this morning. And when you read that text, when you hear me read that text, you're going to go, where is he going with this?

How are you going to get out of Paul's greetings to Tychicus and Epaphras and all this list of names, where is that going to go? But I'm going to attempt to tie that in with the message of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And I believe that it can be done. I believe that all of scripture has at its core an intention to point people back to the centrality of the life of this one Jesus Christ, to point to his death and to point to his resurrection that gives us hope that the grave is not our destiny, but that we have a hope for resurrection just as he was raised.

I want to point out that Jesus is not just the main character in the Bible, but he is the main character of history. And despite my text being a bit of a strange text for an Easter Sunday morning, I think that by the end of this morning we're going to see that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is for real people who need a dramatic change in their real lives.

People just like you and me, even those who are set in an ancient context whose lives were transformed as a result of the gospel, the good news that Jesus Christ came, died, did not remain in the tomb, but rose again three days later.

So let's open our Bibles to Colossians 4. I'm going to read from verse 7 through the end of the text. And if you don't have a Bible, please raise your hand just so that somebody can bring you a Bible.

We have Bibles to pass out. And so if you need one, go ahead and raise your hand and I'd love everybody to have a copy of the Word of God. There's a couple down here. And that way you can just follow along in Colossians 4, verses 7 through 18 as we get started together this morning.

Recast, I'd like to remind you at the start of reading the Bible that this is God's word to us. It seems strange at the end of a book, a bunch of greetings, a bunch of comments from one person to another that we don't know, and yet this is what God desires for us this morning and I believe it is going to have an impact on us.

Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. This is Paul speaking. He is a beloved brother 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, our faithful and beloved brother who is one of you. They will tell you of everything that has taken place here. Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you. And Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, concerning whom you have received instructions, 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 for the kingdom of God and they have been a 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 in Laodicea and to Nympha and the church in her house.

And when this letter has been 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.

Grace be with you.

Let's pray as Dave is ready to lead us in worship this morning. Father, I do pray that grace would be with us this morning and we recognize that grace ultimately flows from the work of Jesus Christ, that he indeed embodies what grace looks like, a gift from you.

That we could not work hard enough, we could not do enough good to overcome the evil that we have done, the bad that resides in us, the sin that corrupts. But Father, you have chosen to send your son to deal with our sin, to be the perfect sacrifice on our behalf, to be the one who would take our punishment in himself and die and be buried for us, but not stay there in the grave, but be vindicated by you, Father, that he would be raised from the dead to prove that he was indeed who he said he was and that he is now alive forevermore, our Lord, our King, our Master, the one to whom if we would bow our knee he would save us.

So Father, I pray that Christ would be glorified, Christ would be honored in our gathering this morning as your chosen means of salvation for your people. Father, let our hearts just soar in the knowledge that the sacrifice has been made for us and that it was acceptable to you and that he now reigns at your right hand.

Father, fill our vision with the sight of Jesus Christ, not crucified this morning but in the empty tomb and now reigning at your right hand. And Father, would you please be joyful in receiving our worship this morning, in Jesus'.

Name, amen.

All right, well you can go ahead and be seated. I'm really thankful for the kids' ministry and all of those workers and particularly somebody that wasn't up on stage but Jackie Klein is our recast kids director and she has an amazing group of volunteers so I'm just really grateful for the time and energy that they put into teaching our kids and obviously assisting us, those of you that are parents and have children that are in our program, it's an assistance to us to help bring those things to light in our children and obviously it's our responsibility to spiritually raise up our kids in Godliness but the church is here to help out with that and whatever we.

Can do.

So, great joy to see the kids up here being cute, really thankful for Dave also leading us in worship, kind of cute too, did I just say that out loud?

You look back in.

Keep your Bibles open to Colossians chapter 4 and I mentioned that this is a little bit of a weird text to preach and I am going through the book of Colossians and we're wrapping things up this week and then I'm going to be out for two weeks and Bill Smith is going to be preaching in my absence so grateful for him and then the following Sunday, my first Sunday back after two weeks is going to be the send off for the Lloyd family and so we're going to have a commissioning service for them and sending them to Indonesia and then we're going to jump into Revelation so we're going to be taking where I left off in the book of Revelation but this morning Colossians 4 and verse 7 and on, wrapping this up and again I mentioned it's a little bit of a strange Easter text but you'll see that it all ties in ultimately with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

I encourage you to get comfortable by the way, I recognize some of you this is your first time here. You're not going to stress me out if you get up and get more coffee or juice or donuts or whatever you need or if that chair gets uncomfortable and you need to get up and stretch out in the back.

Remember, restrooms, we want you to use the restrooms on this end of the building, men's is upstairs, women's is downstairs, the restrooms on this end of the building reserved for the children's ministry so we want you to use the ones down here if you need to use that.

At all.

Our text is a tricky one to preach, it really is Paul writing a bunch of greetings from people who we don't know to people we've never met, you know, it's that kind of nature and so if you're even the least bit curious you might question Paul including these verses as scripture and you might even question me for preaching a sermon on them but I'm so thoroughly convinced that all of scripture is beneficial that I'm bringing this and yes I'm even bringing it on Easter Sunday because I'm convinced that Paul gives us a glimpse here at the end of his letter of the variety and types of people that the gospel has grabbed.

A hold of.

That the gospel, the good news that Jesus came and died which we celebrated on Good Friday and that he rose again has an impact on real people's lives, the people that we're going to see mentioned in this text, I'm just going to, it's going to be kind of bullet point by bullet point walking through the names of the people that Paul talks about here in this text and these were people who lived during the time of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Now the majority of them were not even probably likely present for that event, they didn't see Christ crucified, they didn't see the empty tomb so very much like you and I, these guys were people, and ladies, were people who just like us didn't have the opportunity to see with their own eyes and yet we're going to see that their lives were transformed by the reality that the tomb was empty.

By the reality that Jesus Christ paid the price for them and their lives are different, they're changed and we're going to see how they were changed, they're different. First Paul speaks of a guy named Tychicus, he's got a Greek name, we have some knowledge of what his background might have been if he was anything like the average Greek during the time then he would have worshipped pagan idols, he would have been an idol worshipper at best and at worst he probably just didn't even believe in any God at all but some form of religion within him if any would have been to worship the pantheon of gods and yet Paul speaks to him and he's the one through whom Paul sends this letter to the church in Colossae, he carries it, you couldn't put a stamp on it and expect your postman to show up and take it someplace, he had to have somebody carry this physically for him so Tychicus is the dude who carries the letter of Colossians to the church in Colossae, remember Paul's in prison, he can't deliver this himself, he can't go speak to them so he sends it via Tychicus.

We know very little about him but Paul tells us some things about him in the titles that he uses for him, he says the phrase that he is a beloved brother, he calls him a faithful minister and a fellow servant in the Lord.

From these titles we can deduce something quite significant about Tychicus, the death and resurrection of Jesus had a dramatic impact on this guy's life. The message of Easter was not some lesson about history, some historical event that may or may not have happened or even worse yet some myth or rumor but this very message had turned Tychicus from an outsider to a beloved brother.

He went from being without hope to being a faithful minister who offered hope to others, he went from the normal human state of serving self to being a fellow servant of Paul in the Lord and now he is being sent by Paul to encourage the Colossians and to tell them all about his activities and to catch him up to speed on the things that are going on in Paul's life and about the gospel being spread throughout the known world at the time.

You see the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ when they are understood through the lens of faith transforms the lives of real people, the real lives of real people in history, the real lives of people just like you and me.

And more than just some ancient event it is a reality that is lived out in the hearts of followers of Jesus Christ all down through the ages and throughout multiple cultures and throughout the face or all across the face of this planet even this morning.

The second person that's mentioned in our text, Tychicus, the second person is Onesimus and he was a runaway slave that's mentioned in the book of Philemon. He ran away, got into trouble, was likely imprisoned in the same place as Paul, met Paul and came to understand the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ.

And he is returning now to his former master and according to the book of Philemon he is not returning as a slave but he is returning much more so as a brother in Christ. He has understood the gospel and his life has been transformed as a result of coming in contact with Jesus Christ through Paul.

He's also called a faithful and beloved brother. Through the gospels Paul saw past the socio-economic boundaries of classes in his culture and he rejoiced in any and all who would recognize the personal significance of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Even in that culture that had slavery, Paul is sharing the gospel with slaves. See that? That gospel, the reality of resurrection, the reality of new life has transformed Paul and is reaching out to others.

Aristarchus, Mark and Justice were all Jewish followers of Jesus and here in our text they say they send their greetings to Colossae and Paul calls them fellow workers for the kingdom of God. The concept of the kingdom of God makes little sense if the king is dead.

But Jesus Christ, our king, lives. And these three Jews recognize this and set about as their life work to proclaim the kingdom of God as that it has been brought in Jesus Christ. They were not following a dead king but these three Jews were now following a risen king, a risen Messiah.

Epaphras is mentioned in the text as the founder. He is mentioned earlier in Colossians as the founder of the church in Colossae. Paul had led him to faith in Christ probably down in the city of Ephesus and then he was actually sent to Colossae and started the church there.

And so he sends his greetings back to the church that he started. Apparently he's now with Paul and there's somebody else that's there but he sends his greetings back to the church that he founded. And Paul testifies that Epaphras is a man of prayer and a man of hard work who prays fervently for his church plant desiring that they may stand mature and fully assured in.

The will of God.

But notice the title that Paul gives to Epaphras in our text. He is a servant of Christ Jesus. I would suggest to you that only a fool would serve a dead guy, right? Only a fool would serve a dead guy.

If he's dead, then follow someone else. And that would be my legitimate encouragement to you. If Jesus is not alive, then my goodness, sleep in folks, I'm being serious. But if he's alive, then you recognize that he's got something to do with you here and.

Now.

As a matter of fact, he's called you to serve him, right? How many of you have testified that you recognize that Christ has called you to serve him? You testified to that. Yeah, and he is not dead, but he's alive.

But Epaphras has put his very life into the service of the one whom he firmly believes to be alive. You see, the resurrection of Christ is the only basis upon which anyone should ever serve.

Him.

If Jesus remained dead, then don't, but if he is indeed risen, then trust him to be the king that he said that he is. And like Epaphras, be a servant of the risen Christ Jesus. Mentioned in the text are two others, Luke and Demas, also they greet the church in Colossae.

Luke was a medical doctor and a historian. He recorded for us the very words of resurrection in the 24th chapter of the gospel that he wrote for us and took down as a historical account, talking with and interviewing eyewitnesses to bring to us an accurate historical account of the life of Jesus, and he records even the end of the resurrection.

And he records for us the words of the angel to the women who first saw that the stone had been rolled away, and the angel said this, as Luke records for us, probably having interviewed those very ladies who heard these words themselves, and the angel said this, he is not here, speaking of Jesus, but has risen.

Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee that the son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise? The words of Luke, who is being referenced in our text here, one who certainly believed in the resurrection.

Luke believed in the resurrection enough to record it and to put it into writing for us. There's a bit of a sad note here, though, however, that he's mentioned in conjunction with a man named Demas. Here in this text, at the very end is the mention of Demas, and at the very end of Paul's life, in the last letter that we believe that he wrote, 2 Timothy, there in that letter he mentions Demas as having deserted him in the end because, quote, he fell in love with this present world.

So here in our text, in Colossians, Demas is being commended, but now later in the life of Paul, he says he's fallen away, he's deserted me and he's left. But even in this contrast, even in what Paul has to say about Demas, about him falling in love with this present world, it's implied that if Demas could have just put his trust in resurrection, could have put his trust in the world that is to come, things would have worked out better for him in ministry.

You see, the resurrection should have an impact on our endurance as Christians. Have you ever thought about that? It should have a role in the way that we minister and the way that we roll and the things that we do throughout the week and the way that we put our trust in that which is to come after this life.

And how many of you know and can testify to the temptation to put your trust in earthly things? I think moment by moment it's a battle for me and I would guess that it is for you too. And so what does resurrection have to do with your day?

What does resurrection have to do with the way that you speak with your spouse, with the way that you raise your kids, with the way that you discharge your responsibilities in your workplace? And I would suggest to you an awful lot.

It has a lot to do with it because who are you working for? Are you working for the risen Lord or are you just doing these things just to get by or to make your life better in the here and now? Demas is an example of what not to do throughout the pages of scripture.

He fell in love with this world as over and opposed to, clearly by contrast, falling in love with the kingdom that is to come. You hear the difference there? Falling in love with this present world versus falling in love with the future world.

Falling in love with the world that is to come when our King comes back to set it all.

Right.

If we really believe that Jesus has been raised and that we are partakers in his death through the cross and that we will also partake in resurrection, then that's going to have an impact on where our final hope rests.

Our hope will not be for good golfing in retirement. Our hope will not be for beach houses in Florida or traveling the world or Christmases spent with grandkids. All good things. Good things, right? A lot of fun.

And those aren't bad things in and of themselves, but they are, how many of you know that they're cheap substitutes for God? They're not going to fill that gap and that void that you have in life. They're not going to be ultimately satisfying to your soul.

You're going to be hungry.

You're going to be thirsty.

You're going to want more and you're going to wonder why. Like Tom Brady, after his third Super Bowl ring, going, is this it? Is this it? I mean, those of you who follow sports, you're like, really? But yeah, at the top, not even at the top yet because he got four, right?

But after his third, he goes, really? There's got to be more to life than this. And everybody thinks, man, you've got to made, bro, and it's not enough because it's never enough until you come to recognize the hope for the life that is to come.

You'll always be searching for more. We should put our hope and our trust, place our trust where rust doesn't corrupt, where moths do not consume, where robbers cannot break in and steal. Resurrection puts our hope outside of this present world.

Hospitality, Ministry, and Calling in the Power of the Resurrection

The next person mentioned is Nimpha, a lady who was willing to share her home on the basis of trusting in the good news of Jesus. Any of you recognize that hospitality can be hard work? Some of you are being hospitable today and you've got to get up early and you've fixed some food and you've got some things ready and hospitality takes effort.

Now certainly for some of us, it's easier depending on how you're made and how you're put together. Now how many of you think that hosting a church meeting in your house, in your own home, could.

Be work?

Some of you have done that. You know it is.

It's work.

And especially if it's week in and week out. But even with the little we know of Nimpha from Laodicea, we do know that she let Christ change her priorities to the extent of being willing to sacrifice in service to his church.

She was changed. The last person mentioned is a guy named Archippus. There are two observations about the way that Paul interacts with this guy, who apparently is in Colossae at the time of this writing.

He has some sense that this guy has a calling that he needs to fulfill. Encourage him to fulfill his calling, to fulfill his ministry. And Paul knew that Jesus had some kind of calling on the life of Archippus.

We don't know what exactly that calling looked like. We don't know what it is, but again we recognize that Paul is living his life under the strong conviction that Jesus is still around doing stuff with his people.

He's still calling people. People do not receive ministry assignments from dead guys. But Archippus received a calling to ministry from a guy who had been crucified just outside of Jerusalem several years before this.

And Paul knew that Archippus needed some extra encouragement to fulfill whatever that ministry.

Was.

And I'm convinced that you also need that encouragement here on Easter Sunday to remember to fulfill whatever that calling is that Christ has placed on you. I believe that everybody in this room has some purpose, some reason, and part of it is actually determining and figuring out how has God designed me and what has he made me for and what is he calling me to and work that out.

We need to figure that out and work through that. Paul knew that Archippus needed some extra encouragement. And in this letter to the Colossians, Paul told the Colossians that Jesus is the head.

Of the body.

He said he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. That in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

That's Colossians 1, 18 through 20. Good Friday was all about Christ reconciling accounts. He has made peace by the blood of his cross for anyone like this list of people who would accept that sacrifice to cover their sins.

And further Paul says that Jesus has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. Colossians 1, 22. We can be declared holy and blameless by the gruesome yet awe-inspiring sacrifice on that hill just outside of Jerusalem 2 ,000 years ago.

That has something to do with us. That has something to do with you. Has something to do with the body of Christians that he's bringing together. But the death of Christ isn't meant to remain just some historical event that you believe occurred.

Salvation doesn't come by believing that Jesus died on the cross. Salvation comes by believing that he is right now the king. He reigns in rules and that he didn't just die. How many of you know that you can believe that he died and then he was just dying at the hands of sinful men, right?

And he'd just be like so many others who have been murdered. That's not the end of it, is it? That's why we need to come to grips with what scripture declares and that those who loved him and worked with him actually saw him alive again and testified even to the point of death.

Will you recant that you, will you admit that you didn't see Jesus alive? I can't because I did. And many of those died gruesome deaths in response to those who wanted them to recant and they refused.

He did indeed pay the price on the cross, but now he lives as our master and Lord. Jesus proclaims his love for us at the cross, but at the resurrection he proclaims his exalted status as our king over an eternal kingdom.

If he remained dead, he was just another guy who died. And so Paul says to us that if with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why as if you were still alive in the world do you submit to regulations in Colossians 2 .20?

Paul told us in Colossians that with Christ his people have died and his death is to impact the way we live our lives. But further he says, if then you have been raised with Christ, not only if you have died with him, but if you've been raised with Christ, then seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory according to Colossians 3 .1 -4.

The Christian life is driven by two primary images, the cross and the empty tomb. The cross and the empty tomb. The cross was the place where he paid the penalty, our sins were dealt with, but the empty tomb is the place where our king was vindicated as the victor over sin and death.

And both of these have a claim on our lives. Both of those have something to do with you. We live if we're Christians from a place of forgiveness, but we also live in light of a future victory that is guaranteed by the promise that we will one day rise from.

Death.

A literal victory.

A literal resurrection. As we come to communion this resurrection day, I encourage you to take a moment to consider what the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ means to you. Are you like Demas, falling in love with this present world?

Are you seeking to fulfill all of those longings of your heart, that hunger and thirst? Are you seeking to fill that with activities and behaviors and relationships and wealth and fame and money and all of that kind of stuff?

What are you trying to fill that gap in your heart? Because everyone has it. I mean, you're in good company. Everyone recognizes, everyone should recognize that gap that is in there. You're longing for something.

You're hungry for something. You're thirsty for something. So are you like Demas, falling in love with the present world? Or are you going to be like Tychicus and Epaphras and Paul and Onesimus and all these others?

Are you driven forward by the belief that you serve a risen king? Do you believe that he's holding out an eternal reward that far outweighs anything that this.

Life has to offer?

If your trust is in Jesus Christ as king, then I encourage you to come with joy to one of the tables that are set up for communion during this next song. Take a cracker to remember his body that was broken for us.

We take a cup of juice to remember his blood that was shed for us. Do it remembering what Jesus endured for us.