PLAY YOUR PART (Col 4:7-18) (part1)

This portion of scripture is easy to gloss over or completely ignore, perhaps because we do not consider it as containing deep revelations or anything doctrinal. However, just like many other greetings found in the epistles, there is a lot we can learn from it. Consider Eph 1: 3-14 where Paul was thanking God; and in the course of his thanksgiving, he made several important statements that are essential to our Christianity. Without those things he said, we would have been grossly deficient in our knowledge of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. Yet, Paul was not addressing the Ephesians but thanking God and there is a lot we learn from it.  Although Col 4:7-18 does not contain as much revelation as contained in Eph 1: 3-14, nevertheless, there are still very important principles we can glean from there.

The prevalent focus and trend in the world is towards a life of self pre-occupation and self absorption. It is always about the individual's identity and what the person can achieve by himself. From Col 4: 7-18, Paul gave us a picture of how he accomplished his ministry. It is easy to think very highly of Paul and elevate him above others, forgetting that in carrying out his different duties and tasks, he needed the assistance of other people. These people are the ones he mentioned in this portion of scripture. We probably would never have heard about them if not that Paul mentioned them. Just as heroes of faith of the Old Testament were mentioned in Heb 11, so also did Paul mentioned the heroes of his ministry in Col 4:7-18  -  people he worked with, and who contributed in some ways to his ministry. This principle of accomplishing God’s purpose (work, ministry) for our lives in partnership with others is established in scriptures even from the Old Testament.

An example of the foregoing can be seen in Exodus 17: 8-13 where Israel led by Joshua were fighting Amalek. However, behind the war scenes, Moses hands were raised. For as long as Moses hands were raised, Israel prevailed; but when his hands were lowered, Amalek prevailed. By reason of tiredness Moses could not maintain raised hands by himself. His hands had to be supported by two men -Aaron and Hur - to ensure that Joshua won the battle. If we look at it without knowledge of what was going on behind the battle scenes, we will consider Joshua the hero. Yet, looking behind the scene, we see Moses. Even still behind Moses, we see Aaron and Hur. Without the help of Aaron and Hur, Moses would not have been able to keep his hands up and Joshua and Israel would have lost the battle. Aaron and Hur did not hold swords - all they did was hold Moses hands up. Consequently, some would regard what they did as insignificant. However, what they did was significant and important, for without them the battle would have been lost.

Numbers 11:10-17 is also quite instructive. Moses cried out to God because he found the burden of leading the children of Israel too much to bear. Ironically, in this present time, we fall into the error of trying to do all by ourselves. We want the glory to accrue to us. This is why we find people naming ministries after themselves and even draw up a succession plan lining up their children to take over from them in order to perpetuate themselves. This ought not to be.  Consistent with God’s pattern of partnering with others in fulfilling divine purpose,  God's response to Moses' cry was to put of His Spirit upon seventy men of the elders of Israel so they could help shoulder the burden [See also Ex 18:13-26].  One of the things we can learn from this story is that perhaps the reason why things are not going the way they should, or why we are over-burdened and distressed, is probably because we are trying to do too much on our own. God has fashioned it in such a way that the accomplishment of His task is shared in functions that is supposed to be fulfilled by different people. It's never achieved by only one person. Paul recognised this principle and walked by it. This same principle is essentially what Proverbs 27:17.

Another way to approach Col 4:7-18 is to do a character study by taking a closer look at each of the individuals mentioned there and then examine all the references to the person in the scripture. This will  show how they lived their daily lives and enable us learn good examples from them. In this regard, we will examine just three characters – John Mark, Demas and Archippus.

John Mark listed as a fellow labourer of Paul in Col 4:10 was once deserted Paul and Barnabas during their first missionary journey. Consequently, Paul was unwilling to take him along on a subsequent trip. This occasioned such a serious dispute between Paul and Barnabas that they had to go their separate ways (Acts 12:25, 15:36-39). Years after these incidents, we see Paul now reconciled to John Mark and mentioned as his fellow minister. He probably did it to reassure believers who might have been reluctant to receive John Mark because of his past. We learn from this episode the virtues of forgiveness and the need to bear with weak and those that have sinned. God never gave up on John Mark. What do we do with our weak? Doe we throw them away, or encourage them to be better and move on?

Demas story is also instructive. At this point of Paul's writing here in Colossians 4:14 and in Philemon verse 24, Demas was a faithful minister, but by the time Paul was writing in 2 Tim 4:10, Demas had forsaken Paul. How committed are we today, and what shall they say about us in ten years time?

We also learn from Paul’s instruction to Archippus in Col 4:17: Paul there gave an encouragement (not a rebuke) to Archippus to fulfil the ministry he received in the Lord.  This should stir up certain salient questions in our hearts. We ought to ask ourselves what our ministry is and if we are fulfilling it. Would we be found faithful years from now or would we have forsaken the ministry? God’s plan is for every single believer to play a role, and we have to realize that we have a part to play. An illustration of this is a statue which was reconstructed after a war, which unfortunately could not be completed, and as such the statue of Jesus had no hands. Consequently the sculptures decided to write under the statute the inscription, "Jesus has no hands but yours". On earth, we are Jesus' hands, feet, eyes, and voice. This is pictorially depicted in Rom 12.

From Rom 12: 3-8, we see clearly that God has given us a variety of gifts. Unfortunately, the Church has elevated some gifts above others just like they did in the Corinthian church. The Corinthians loved the sensational and boisterous things. In the same way, we have grown into a culture in Church where we elevate only some ministries (e.g pastors and preachers), and anyone wanting to serve thinks only of these ministries. All the gifts listed in this portion of scripture are important. We must however realize that this list is not all-encompassing. In I Cor 12 and I Pet 4, we find more gifts being made mention of.

1 Cor 12 gives a similar illustration as that in Rom 12. In many places people try to duplicate and covet others gifts (role) and even emulate their mannerisms, forgetting that the essence of the aforementioned scriptures on the gifts is uniqueness and variety. The gifts differ so much that two people having the same gift could manifest it in different ways (e.g. teaching). We all have the same Spirit but our individual gifts differ. We have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office. In following our leaders, we ought not to assume we are to manifest the same gifts as they do. We should know we all are unique. Nevertheless we could have an overlap of gifts (have more than one gift). This should occasion some introspection and stir certain questions.  We should ask ourselves what gifts we have, what role are we playing, and what has been committed into our hands. We all have a part to play. There should be no such demarcation as workers and non-workers in the Church.

Two Salient points

Identification of gifts: The identification (discovery or recognition) or the use of our gift must start from a place of dedication of the entirety of our lives to God (Rom 12:1). This is essentially why Rom12:1 precedes the instructions given in the subsequent verses on spiritual gifting. This total dedication is not something occasional, but something we are devoted to on a continual basis. It is when this prerequisite of total dedication to God has been met that we can move on to faithfulness
Faithfulness (I Cor 4:1-2, Mt 25:14-30): The whole of our lives including our gifts is a stewardship for which we shall give account to God, and o account of which faithfulness is crucial. The use of our gifts becomes better if we are faithful. The use of our gifts does not necessarily have to be in Church gatherings. For example, one who has the gift of encouragement should be faithful in using it anywhere - work places, homes, etc.

In conclusion, we should  bear in mind that we are God's workmanship [Eph 2:10] or masterpiece. The reason why He has given us diverse gifts is so that we can display the manifold glory of His Person (1 Pet 2:9, 4:10). If we copy someone else's gift instead of discovering our, it means there is an aspect of God's glory we are not displaying. He's committed something to us that He expects us to fulfil. Can we, like Paul, be able to look back at the end of our lives and say that we have finished our course (2 Tim 4:7-8).We can only do that when we realize all He gave us, and that He committed to us and empowered us to do; and then go ahead and do them so that the glory returns to Him.