Philemon 1:23-25
In this session we’re going to look at the
final two verses of Philemon. Like
several other NT books, Philemon ends with a series of greetings. Five people are mentioned by name—Epaphras,
Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke. This is the type of material would be
tempted to skim over rather quickly in our personal Bible study, thinking
there’s not much for us to learn from it.
But actually there is much to learn from examples of the people
mentioned in these verses.
This list of names at the end of Philemon is a reminder that
the Christian life is a life of relationships.
When you accepted Christ into your life, you became a part of a great
spiritual family. And as members of the
family of faith, we’re to encourage each other, draw strength from each other,
challenge each other, and support each other.
The concept of Christians drawing strength and encouragement from each
other permeates this list of names. Notice
the recurring use of the word “fellow” in these verses. Literally that word means to be together with
another.
EPAPHRAS
In verse 23 Paul describes Epaphras as “my fellow prisoner.”
Some Bible scholars take that to mean that Epaphras voluntarily gave up his
freedom to be with Paul and keep Paul company in prison. He didn’t abandon his friend in a difficult
time. He remained loyal and true, even
though it cost him his freedom to do so.
This was the man who shared the gospel with the Colossians. And
from the book of Colossians we know quite a bit about him.
In Colossians 1:7 he is described as:
·
“beloved” - His name is very close to
“Aphrodite” which means “lovely.” And he was a very lovely person. He was much loved by Paul and by the
Colossians.
·
“fellow bond-servant” - The word “bond-servant”
translates the Greek word “doulos”...that was the word used to described
the lowest of slaves in the social order of the first century world...this was
the person who did all the dirty work...whatever no-one else wanted to do, that
task fell to the “doulos”...that’s the role unselfish Epaphras, as well
as Paul, gladly assumed...instead of demanding a position of honor or
authority, instead of seeking praise and recognition, Epaphras was the kind of
person who willingly put himself in the background and put others first...
·
“faithful servant of Christ” - It has
often been said that faithfulness is the primary thing the Lord requires of
us...I Corinthians 4:2 that “...it is required of stewards [or servants]
that they be found faithful...”... Epaphras was certainly faithful
toward Christ...Epaphras was also faithful toward Paul...
In Colossians 4:12-13 we are told that the over-riding passion
of Epaphras was the spiritual welfare of the Christians in the area of
Colossae. He expressed that concerning
in two ways:
·
Epaphras
prayed hard
The last part of v.12 says that Epaphras was
“always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand
perfect and fully assured in all the will of God.”...that little
statement gives us a wealth of information about how Epaphras prayed and about
how we should pray...for example, it tells us that Epaphras prayed—
CONSTANTLY
- Notice the word “always” in the middle part of v.12... not
sometimes/occasionally/when felt like it/when urge hit him...not even
regularly...but he was “always” praying...he had learned the
secret of “praying without ceasing” as we’re instructed to do in
I Thessalonians 5:17...doesn’t mean always had head bowed and eyes closed in
traditional position of prayer...but does mean was constantly in touch with the
Father and that we just naturally lift to Him the needs of people who cross his
path and mind...and more often than not, the people in his hometown of Colossae
were on his mind and in his prayers...
FERVENTLY
- The phrase “laboring earnestly” translates a word from which
our word agony comes...in NT times the word was used to describe an
athlete who gave his all on the athletic field...it’s the same word used to
describe the agony of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane as he anticipated His death on the cross...in
using that word Paul was saying that prayer was not a flippant matter to
Epaphras...he took it seriously and worked hard at it...
PERSONALLY
- Paul tells the Colossians that Epaphras prayed “for you”...he
no doubt prayed for them by name...for Epaphras prayer was not an impersonal
religious exercise...Epaphras carried the Colossians in his heart and it was
just naturally for him to pray for them personally...
SPECIFICALLY
- He prayed that they would “stand perfect and fully assured in all the
will of God...”...that phrase indicates that the desire of Epaphras for
the Christians in Colossae was that they grow and mature in the Christian
faith...he prayed that they would have the spiritual depth and strength not be
led astray by the false teachers who had infiltrated that church...
·
Epaphras
worked hard
Ruth Graham once said that Christians should pray as if everything
depends on God and Christians should work as if everything depends on us...I
like that...prayer alone is not enough...work alone is not enough...we must
have both in our lives to accomplish what God wants us to accomplish...and
Epaphras certainly understood that...
Look at the first part of v.13…the NASB says, “For I bear
him witness that he has a deep concern for you...”...the NIV says “I
vouch for him that he is working hard for you...”...and the word
translated “deep concern” in the NASB and “working hard”
in the NIV carries the idea of great toil or excruciating labor...
Paul was saying that Epaphras was a hard worker...and the very
fact that Epaphras was in Rome with Paul may be evidence of that... we can’t
know for sure why Epaphras was in Rome, but he probably made that difficult
journey to get advice from the Apostle Paul concerning how to deal with some of
the problems facing the churches in the area of Colossae...
He was the kind of person who was so meticulous in his work, so
conscientious about his responsibilities, that he would gladly go the second
and third mile to be effective in what he was doing...
MARK
Mark,
who is also known as John, has one of the more interesting stories in the
NT...he was the son of a wealthy widow who lived in Jerusalem...we first meet
John Mark in Acts 13 where he accompanies Paul and his cousin, Barnabas, on
Paul’s first missionary journey...Mark’s failure was that when things got a
little tough, he bailed out and went home...this so angered Paul that when it
came time for the second missionary Barnabas wanted to take Mark along and
Paul, still angry over Mark’s quitting on the first trip, flatly refused...the
incident caused a rift in the relationship between Paul and Barnabas...
By
the time Paul wrote the book of Colossians, Mark and Paul had reconciled their
relationship. His life reminds us that
failure can be a spring board to greater things.
Instead
of frustrating us, we need to learn how to allow our failures to motivate
us...many of the world’s most successful people found that failure can be a
stepping stone to success...That happened in the life of Nathaniel Hawthorne,
the famous American literary figure...he lost his job at a customhouse in Salem
and feeling very dejected and defeated he went home to break the bad news to
his wife...her reaction surprised him...she said, “Good. Now you can continue work on your book.”...and
with her encouragement he got busy and finished writing The Scarlet
Letter, which became a classic of American literature...
It
is interesting that as Paul’s life neared its end, it was John Mark who he
summoned to his side. In the letter of 2
Timothy Paul instructed Timothy to “Pick up Mark and bring him with you,
for he is useful to me for service.”
ARISTARCHUS AND DEMAS
Aristarchus
and Demas were complete opposites...Aristarchus is a man who stayed...Demas is
a man who strayed...Aristarchus stuck with Paul through some very difficult and
trying times...Demas ended up deserting Paul...and from the examples of these
two men--one positive and the other negative--there are several key things we
can learn about the Christian life...Aristarchus and Demas remind us that the
Christian life is a life of perseverance…
In
the Scripture the Christian life is often compared with a race...Aristarchus
and Demas were both in the race, but they approached it from totally different
perspectives...Aristarchus approached the Christian life as a marathon which
takes patience and endurance...Demas approached the Christian life as a sprint
where you run for a short distance at top speed and then stop...
Both
Aristarchus and Demas were from Thessalonica in the Roman Province of
Macedonia...both probably came to profess faith in Christ during Paul’s
ministry in that city...however, their futures in the faith were radically
different...
Aristarchus
was a man who stayed with it...he hung in there and refused to quit even in the
face of great difficulty...
--first
meet him in Scripture in Acts 19 where he is seized by a rioting mob in Ephesus
because they recognized him as one of Paul’s companions...that frightening
experience could have caused him to turn back on go home, but it didn’t...he
stayed with Paul...
--know
from Acts 20 that he traveled with Paul to Jerusalem where Paul was nearly torn
apart by an angry mob and was saved only because the Roman soldiers stepped
it...that frightening experience could have caused Aristarchus to turn back on
go home, but it didn’t...he stayed with Paul...
--know
from Acts 27 that he was with Paul on the journey to Rome...a journey marked by
danger and shipwreck...that experienced could have caused Aristarchus to turn
back on go home, but it didn’t...he stayed with Paul...
--and
we see from Colossians, as Paul endured his imprisonment in Rome, Aristarchus
was still faithfully by his side...
Demas
was just the opposite...apparently by the time Paul wrote Philemon and
Colossians, Demas was in the process of falling away… he was running out of
gas...he was about to drop out of the race and apparently Paul could see it
coming...by the time Paul wrote 2 Timothy Demas had dropped out...in 2 Timothy
4:10 Paul makes this sad statement about Demas...”...for Demas, have
loved this present world, has deserted me...”...and the clear implication
is that not only had Demas deserted Paul, he deserted the ministry...
Arastarchus
and Demas remind us we always are faced with the choice of staying with Christ
or straying from Christ.
LUKE
Luke
was one of the most influential people in the history of the church:
--wrote
approximately 1/4 of the NT...if it weren’t for his writings, we would know
very little about the growth of the early church and the spread of the gospel
across the 1st century world...
--was
the first church historian, and as such was one of the most important people in
Christian history...
--was
a close friend, traveling companion, and personal physician of the Apostle
Paul...
It’s
interesting that as influential and important as Luke was in the history of the church, almost everything we
know about him is found in a single verse in the Bible. In Colossians 4:14 he is described as “Luke,
the beloved physician…”
--there
has been much speculation about Luke’s background... according to Eusebius and
Jerome, two of the early church fathers, Luke was born in Antioch of
Syria...some speculate that he may have been the brother of Titus and that he
first met Paul when Paul was a student at Tarsus...others say he may have been
a freed slave from the household of Theophilus who is mentioned by name in the
prologues of Luke and of Acts...but all that is mere speculation and cannot be
verified...
--if
you’ll look carefully at Paul’s reference to Luke in Colossians, you’ll
discover three things about him we can know for certain...he was a
physician...he was a Gentile...and he was a faithful companion to Paul...
Luke
reminds us of the importance of using our abilities for the Lord. By profession, Luke was a physician...by the
1st century the Greeks had elevated the practice of medicine to an
honored vocation...in the culture in which Luke lived, much like in our culture
today, physicians were held in high esteem...and no doubt Luke could have
chosen any number of ways to use his unique skills as a physician, but he chose
to use them in service to the Lord by caring for and serving alongside the
Apostle Paul...From the book of Acts we know that Luke joined Paul at Troas on
Paul’s second missionary journey...and, from Paul’s last NT letter, 2 Timothy,
we know that Luke was with him to the very end…
