Positive Words Newsletter
#153 / 15th April 2008
Expanding your awareness of
"the simplicity that is in Christ"
(II Corinthians 11:3)
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The Power of Christian Friends, concluded
[Colossians 4 -- continued from issue 151]
The next man mentioned is "Jesus who is called Justus" (Colossians 4:11). Jesus was a common name in the days of the New Testament. It was a version of the Old Testament name Joshua and a lot of people were called Jesus. In order to identify this man it says the "Jesus who is called Justus", so let's just call him Justus. It has been suggested that his Jewish friends would call him Jesus, and his Greek and Roman friends would call him Justus. The record does not say much about him, except to group him with the men in the previous verses. "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" (verse 11b) They gave the encouragement that Paul needed at that time. We read later in the letters to Timothy a list of the names of people who turned their back on Paul and no longer wanted to be associated with him and his positive ministry. So here is another friend, Justus, another man who stayed, and in staying he was an encouragement, a comfort.
Are you getting the message from this that really one of the great reasons God has got you where you are is so that you can help the people you rub shoulders with? That's why you're there. It's to help the needs of humanity around you. I know the Bible teaches quite strongly that we should be concerned with the heathen in Africa and America and Australia and everywhere else, but it's the heathen next door and the heathen down the street and the heathen in your relatives those who do not know Christ that are your mission field. We're there to help them, and if you care for them then you have an opportunity to share the positive Word with them.
Another person is mentioned in this list of those who looked after Paul, and that's in verse 14 where we read "Luke the beloved physician greets you." He is also mentioned in Philemon verse 24 and in II Timothy 4:11. Luke was the writer of the book of Acts as well as of the Gospel of Luke. Luke only mentions himself a couple of times in the book of Acts but we know when he was on the journeys with Paul because of the pronoun "we" that is used. I believe from about chapter 16 onwards he spent all his time with the apostle Paul. Now in those days, as today, the physicians were a very prosperous group of people in the community. They knew how to charge back then, and they know how to charge today. And they are charging so much now that Christians are soon going to have to believe God for their healing!
Here is a physician, looked up to in the community, but it appears he set aside his practice to travel with the apostle Paul. Paul had his own physician on the team and he was a Gentile. He was not Jewish in culture but he was one of those who stayed. So there's four people who get special mention because they stayed with the apostle Paul: Three Jews--Aristarchus, Mark, Justus; and one Gentile, Luke. They encouraged him. They looked after him. They helped him fulfill his ministry even though he was chained between two soldiers every day.
Let's go back to verse 12, because there's another man here whose name is Ephaphras and he's known as the man who prayed. "Epaphras, who is one of you..." so he was a Colossian. In fact, if you'll turn back to Colossians 1:7-8 you'll find that he gets a mention there as the man who brought Paul news of the Colossian church. "Just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the Spirit." The word "learned" is the Greek word for "discipled". The Colossian believers were carefully discipled by Epaphras, who many believe started the church at Colossae.
In 4:12 it says "Ephaphras... 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." So he was a man who prayed that they "may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God." Ephaphras perhaps could have spent his time praying to get out of prison. Philemon verse 23 says he was a fellow prisoner. Instead, he prayed for other people. His concern was this group of people that he had led to a knowledge of Christ Jesus and he wanted them to be mature in the faith and fully assured that God's will for them was health, wealth, and happiness. God's will is for you is set in concrete, and all your praying does not change His will but helps you to be "fully assured" as to that will. That is a crucial point. Standing mature and fully assured go together. Ephaphras was a friend who prayed.
"For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis" (verse 13). There are three towns together in the valley, and obviously Ephaphras had something to do with the work of God in all those three towns. So here was a man who prayed, and he didn't just pray "Bless all the people everywhere." These verses say he prayed specifically for this group of believers. He prayed fervently and constantly. He really knew how to pray!
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We've already looked at Luke the beloved physician in verse 14, "Luke the beloved physician greets you, as does Demas." What about this man Demas? It doesn't say anything about him here except that he "greets you". There's no word of commendation about him. There's nothing said to identify him from anybody else apart from his name. I wonder why that is. There are clues in other books of the Bible. In the book of Philemon verses 23-24 we have some of these men mentioned that we've been looking at in this chapter. "Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers." Demas gets a mention as one of Paul's fellow laborers. In II Timothy there is a third and final reference to this man. II Timothy 4:10, "For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica." Today we would probably say, "Demas has let me down."
Can you relate to that? Have you ever had friends that let you down? And what was the reason Demas let Paul down? It says he has loved this present world and has gone to Thessalonica. He walked out on Paul because he loved the lifestyle of the world. He loved the culture in which he lived. "This present world" is the world system. It's the culture, the society, the concepts, the way of thinking of the world. Demas loved this present world more than he loved serving God and Christ Jesus his Savior, and the great values that the Christian teaching had imparted to him. Demas has let me down, deserted me, having loved this present world. He is the man who strayed. As you are living positively in a negative world there will be some friends who perhaps are going to stray. So it's still sad to lose a friend like that. Perhaps it will happen, but thank God for the friends that we can count on. Those who stay and the friends we can count on who pray. There's something very valuable about friendship, and when those friends are your brothers and sisters in the Christian faith they are of double value to you. So let's be very careful that we be very appreciative of all our friends.
Only four verses of Colossians remain. "Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house" (Colossians 4:15). Here we have a church in the home of a lady. "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" (verse 16). Whether that is an epistle that has been lost we do not know. Some think it's the letter to the Ephesians which was a circular letter that went around several churches. "And say to Archippus, 'See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord'" (verse 17). We can train a person to do the positive teaching but only God makes ministers. Archippus had a ministry that God had given to him, and Paul is encouraging him to fulfill it. "I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you." (verse 18). Others had penned the letter that Paul had dictated, and now Paul, even though chained to a soldier, penned the last line, probably hearing the chains clinking as he wrote those words. Some texts have a note at the end, "To the Colossians, written from Rome by Tychicus and Onesimus".
Would you like to see this series in a book? Let us have your feedback at http://peterwade.com/go/contact . This series started in our newsletter in issue #94, dated 4th May 2005. All previous issues are available to read in our Newsletter archive.
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