Ephesians 6:21-24, Farewell to Ephesians!

Ephesians 6:21-24

 

We have spent exactly 2 fiscal years studying Ephesians.  The excellencies of Jesus Christ have been put before us in this Queen of NT Epistles, and it is my hope that each of us has beheld what is excellent and each of us is more excellent for the last two years.  I hope Ephesians has gotten into us, and that we are more Ephesian now than when we began.

 

Here is our question:  How should we leave Ephesians behind?  The answer:  by taking it with us.  Colossians 3 says we are to let the word of Christ dwell richly in our hearts, so, let us let the word of Ephesians dwell richly in us.  My practical suggestion today is let’s look at where the text leaves off in the end of the letter.  Then we will know what to leave with.  Let’s read:

 

I see two things in Paul’s closing comments.  I see two pictures, or descriptions.  Both are pictures of reputation.  We have a picture of what our personal reputation should be like as Christians, and, we have a picture of what our church’s reputation should be like as EFC.

 

Tychicus – a personal reputation for all (v21-22)

            Paul closes with a description of one of his assistants.  His name is Tychicus.  Paul sent Tychicus to the Ephesians with his letter to them, the letter we studied for two years.  Paul often sent his helpers and assistants to churches that he had started.  Once the church was stable, or, he was run out of town he would move on.  We see examples of this many times in his letters…[give examples, Timothy sent to the Corinthians, Philippians, and Thessalonians, Epaphroditus sent to Philippians, Silas, Luke, Titus, etc.]

 

Why did he do this?  Because he was a good pastor.  Pastor literally means shepherd, and good shepherds are often checking the well-being of their flock.  Proverbs 27:23 says, “Be sure to know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds.”  Paul did that with his flocks.  Actually, he was the best.  He was always sending someone to see how his churches were getting along in his absence.  Church leadership means caring for the condition of the people under your charge.  That’s why Paul was always sending people to his churches.  That’s why he sent good people.  People like Tychicus.  Listen to what else Paul said about him in Colossians 4:7-8, “Tychicus will tell you all the news about me.  He is a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord.  I am sending him to you for the express purpose that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts.”  We should be like this ancient brother of ours. 

 

Paul says 3 things about Tychicus that show us what his reputation was like.  These are 3 things that our reputation shold be like

 

            First, Tychicus was “dear”, D-E –A-R, “dear”.  Paul says in verse 21, “Tychicus, the dear brother…”  He could have just said, “brother”.  But he didn’t.  He said “dear brother”.  The NAS says, “beloved brother”.  He said in Colossians 4:7, “Tychicus will tell you all the news about me.  He is a dear brother…” 

 

You see that there is a lot of affection there.  Tychicus was someone that people were very fond of.  He meant a lot to people.  He had a big place in people’s hearts.  Tychicus was one of those people that when you think of him it has a way of bringing out the best affections in you.  Thinking about him is a pleasant thing.  It’s encouraging.  Proverbs 17:17 says, “A brother is born for adversity but a friend loves at all times.”  Proverbs 18:24 says, “There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”  Ecclesiastes 4:10 says, “If one falls down his friend can help him up.  But pity the man who falls and has on one to help him up!”  Tychicus is that friend.  He helps you when you are down.  He makes sure that no one is without a friend.  His friendship is a sweet fragrance. 

He is a dear brother, a beloved brother.  Let each of us have reputations as “dear brothers” as well.

 

            Second, Tychicus was Faithful.  Verse 21 says, “Tychicus, a dear brother and faithful servant…”  This guy shows up everywhere.  In Acts 20 he is part of Paul’s team.  Paul sends him to the Colossians according to Colossians 4:7.  Paul sends him to Titus on the island of Crete.  Other than Timothy, I have to wager that Tychicus is one of Paul’s most trusted men.  Watch him closely brothers and sisters.  Oh that what is written and said about this servant of the Lord would be said about each of us! 

 

Every one of us should have a reputation for being faithful.  Faithful means you don’t just have curb appeal in church.  Faithful means you look just as good on the inside as the outside.  The backyard is in as good a shape as the front.  Faithfulness means you do what you say and you mean what you say.  It means that you have integrity.  Your words have the weight of your action behind them.  You’re mouth doesn’t write checks your character can’t cash.  You’re dependable.  Reliable.  These are the makings of those belonging to God. 

 

If we belong to God than we must shine forth those attributes belonging to Him.  Let us be like what God is like.  He is true and He is faithful.  Listen to the mighty Psalm 89:1, 2, 5-8.   Listen to the great old Song:  Great is Thy Faithfulness “

 

“Great is Thy faithfulness,” O God my Father,
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not
As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.

“Great is Thy faithfulness!” “Great is Thy faithfulness!“
  Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided—
    “Great is Thy faithfulness,” Lord, unto me!

            I wonder if songs of God’s faithfulness were some of Tychicus’s favorite.  I bet he knew Numbers 23:19 by heart, “God is not a man that He should lie, nor a son of man that He should change His mind.  Does He speak and then not act?  Does He promise and not fulfill?”  Tychicus was a man who mirrored the faithfulness of our God.  He was faithful as a servant.  He was faithful in character.  He was dependable.  You could count on him.  That’s why Paul had full confidence when he sent Tychicus.  Paul says “I am sending him”.   

 

Question:  If Paul knew us would he send us?  Would Paul be confident and sleep well at night after sending us on his behalf?  If Paul were assembling a missionary team would we be his “A” team?  Let not Proverbs 25:19 refer to any of us when it says, “Like a bad tooth or a lame foot is reliance on the unfaithful in times of trouble.” 

 

Are you faithful?  Do you mean what you say?  Do you lie or speak insincerely, or flatter people insincerely?  Or do you say what you mean and tell the truth? 

Can people depend on you to carry out your commitments?  Or, do you avoid commitment?  Or do you over-commit and not meet your commitments? 

Do you have integrity?  Does your private life match your public life?  Or, do you do one thing and say another? 

Let us all be true.  Let us all speak truthfully and sincerely, let everyone be confident in our word, and let us be privately what we are publicly.  Let us all be faithful.

 

            Thirdly, Tychicus was Encouraging.  Paul says at the end in verse 22, “that he may encourage you.”  Paul was sending Tychicus to be an encouragement to the Ephesians.  Paul sent him to encourage the Colossians as well.  In Colossians 4:8 Paul says, “I am sending Tychicus to you for the express purpose that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts.”  When Paul wanted churches to be encouraged and he couldn’t be the one to do it, he sent Tychicus. 

 

Can we be counted on to be an encouragement to our brothers and sisters?  That means first of all you make relationships with your church family.  It also means you offer yourself to serve your church family.  This means making yourself available to your church family. 

 

I want to pluck out a point from these salutations that Paul writes.  The point is this:  We are an encouragement to others when we are growing in the faith.  Notice Ephesians 6:21.  Notice Paul says that Tychicus was going to tell them about what was happening and how he was doing.  Then notice what he says in verse 22.  What would encourage them is the news that Paul is doing well.  Remember, it’s not his circumstances that Paul wanted them to be encouraged by – he was in prison.  No, they were going to be encouraged when they heard that despite his situation he had joy and hope and perseverance.

 

“We encourage others when we are growing in the faith.”  Let me point out 2 things that area important to this point. 

 

First, this means that we can be an encouragement to others when we go through trials.  ***We pray for the storms of people’s lives to be stilled but do we pray for their response to the storm?  Do we pray for HOW people go through trials?  If I go through a trial please pray that God would end it quickly.  But, also please pray that I would be faithful and firm in my faith the whole time.  Pray that God would glorify Himself through me while I am afflicted.  Pray that in my fire my dross would melt away and the pure perfections of Christ would shine through.  Pray that James 1:2 would be true for me and I would consider it pure joy whenever I face my trials. 

 

It’s great to hear of our fellow Christians doing well.  But, there is no comparable encouragement and inspiration that comes from anything other than watching a fellow Christian being tested in a trial and watching him praise God.  There are treasures of God buried deep and unless we are brought low by the weight of a trial and forced to dig we would never unearth those jewels.  There are purposes for trials.  God had a purpose for Job’s trial.  He had a plan for Joseph when he was sold by his brothers into slavery and then unjustly thrown into prison in Egypt.  He had a reason for Jesus’ 40 days of suffering in the wilderness. Let us pray that no matter what, in death or living, in happy days or dark days, that they would not waiver in their faithfulness to God.

 

Secondly, if my growth is an encouragement to others, my personal growth is part of my responsibility to the whole church body.  Turn with me to Colossians 4:7-8.  You see here again that the Colossians will be encouraged by what they hear about Paul and his service to the Lord.  He kept going.  He wasn’t’ quitting.  If I don’t grow I am a source of discouragement.  Especially if I’m not here as a member of the church.  If you’re not here then how can you possibly encourage others?  If you’re not here in fellowship you are not growing.  A symptom of non-growth is non-attendance.  That’s why attendance and dedication to personal spiritual growth is part of church membership.  When other Christians see me growing and maturing in Christ it encourages them.  It is incredibly discouraging to see other Christians backsliding in worldliness and sin. 

 

Listen:  is our Christian life an encouragement to our fellow Christians?  Would Paul want to tell everyone about us?  Each of us have a responsibility to be an encouragement to each other.  Let everyone know us for how encouraging we are. 

 

 

Benediction – a church’s reputation (v23-24)

            How should a church be known?  How should it be known by it’s members?  By others?  Most importantly, how should it be known by God?  Paul says 3 things in here that I believe we as a church should be known for.

 

            First, Peace.  A church should be characterized by peace. Paul says in verse 23, “Peace to the brothers…”  Each one should carry the confidence of having peace with God.  Ephesians 2:15-16 says, “having made peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross…”  But each one of us should do whatever it takes to keep peace in the church.  Ephesians 4:3 says, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”  Shame on anyone who would put our peace in danger by becoming petty or grumbling or divisive or conceited.  Shame on us if we ever tolerate it. 

 

Illustration:  There is a group of men from our church that meets at Russ’ on Thursdays for Bible study and prayer.  We get to know the servers there and often try to share the Gospel.  I remember one server who really liked to chat with us and at one point she said that she really enjoyed coming to our table because there just seemed to be a peace there.  God’s peace should mark us.  Peace should be our reputation.

 

            Second, Love and Faith.  A church should be known for its love and faith.  (1:15; 3:17-19; 4:2, 15-16; 5:2, 25).  Galatians 5:6.  First and 2 Thessalonians. 

 

            Third, Grace.  A NT church, a local church that belongs to Jesus Christ should be marked by the grace of God.  Grace should be the marker.  Notice what verse 24 says, “Grace be to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.”  Paul ends his letter with grace just as he began it.  In chapter 1 verse 2 he says, “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” 

 

Grace streams through the whole letter.  In 1:6 we see that God’s grace is glorious and He has freely given it to us.  In verse 7 it says we have the forgiveness of our sins because of the riches of His grace.  In 2:5 it says “it is by His grace that we are saved.” 

 

Grace means favor.  In the Bible it means unmerited favor.  Biblical grace means God favors us without any regard to our performance.  What this means is that we are favored by God. 

 

Now it is this grace that should characterize us.

 

This means first of all that we know our salvation has come only by God’s grace.  We marvel together over how great God’s grace is.  Our hearts sing that old hymn, “Come Thou fount of every blessing tune, my heart to sing thy grace!”  A.W. Tozer said “Grace is the good pleasure of God that inclines him to bestow benefits upon the undeserving…Its use to us sinful men is to save us and make us sit together in heavenly places to demonstrate to the ages the exceeding riches of God's kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”

 

But, when we say grace should characterize us it also means that we find that we are a community that is constantly supplied with God’s grace to live out the Christian life.  “Grace makes you gracious….”  Said E. Stanley Jones.  In other words, we are saved by God’s grace, and, we serve by God’s grace.

 

This means we will NOT be a group that is governed by legalism.  We will not be hooked in the nose by the petty and self-righteous rules of men whose lack of real grace makes them impose their own ideas on everyone else.  Some people talk grace but live like their under law.  Unfortunately it is their own law but they believe it’s God’s.  We won’t be ruled over by man’s legalistic rules. 

 

But, it must be said also that we will not use grace as a license to sin.  Grace is given to us for salvation – the forgiveness of all our unrighteousness.  And, grace is given to us to live in righteousness. 

 

 

Conclusion:

I hope Ephesians has gotten into us.  I also hope that we are more “Ephesian” now than when we began.  I hope that we will leave Ephesians with what it leaves us with:  a personal reputation of being endearing, faithful and encouraging.  It also leaves us with a church reputation of peace, love, and grace.  Let us excel in these things.  And as we leave Ephesians behind, let us not leave behind what it offers us.