“Aristarchus—my fellow prisoner.” He had endured hardship for Christ. He knew what it was to suffer for Christ. He had identified himself with a man of God. At the close of his own life Paul said,
“I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” Those wounds and scars that Paul had in his body showed that he had suffered for Christ. Aristarchus had the honor of sharing some of those sufferings for his Lord and Master.
O, young folks, that is a privilege. If we suffer, we are going to reign. Have you ever had the privilege of suffering for Christ? I wonder if we try to avoid it? O, remember, “It is given unto us not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake.”
Shame on us if we seek to avoid that path. Shame on us if we keep our mouths closed when we should speak. Shame on us if we would rather not be associated with those who are godly, if we are ashamed to be characterized as a Christian.
Marcus, or Mark. There is something very encouraging here. Have you ever made some kind of a blunder in that little meeting where you come from? Have you ever made a mess of things? Have you ever been humiliated in the midst of your brethren? Take courage. Here is a man that has done the same thing. His name was Mark. He started out to serve the Lord, and he became weak-kneed. He got homesick and turned back. That was a sad thing. He certainly missed the mind of the Lord in that. At the time, the Apostle Paul was very much disappointed in him, and did not have much confidence in him. He had turned his back on the work of Christ. Isn’t it nice to find the Apostle Paul here, near the close of his life, telling the Colossians that Mark was coming, and if he came, to receive him. In a later epistle he says,
“He is profitable to me for the ministry.”
Mark recovered himself, or perhaps I should say, the Lord recovered Mark. Because he had made a colossal failure, that was no sign that the Lord was through with him. I remember saying to a brother a good many years ago,
“How is it that we never hear your voice in any address to the young folks, or any ministry?”
“O,” he said, “I tried it once and made such a miserable failure, I made up my mind I would never try again.”
I sought to encourage him, and tell him that because he failed once was no reason why he should always fail. That brother became one of our most valuable and esteemed brothers—one of our most able brothers. We do not need to think that God is through with us because we have failed. Paul did not hold against Mark his past failures.
Jesus, or Justus. Paul gave him his full title—Justus, the just one. That man’s outstanding characteristic was that he was a just man. Well, that is not to be despised. We should all seek to be just. If there is anything, that should characterize a Christian it is moral integrity—downright honesty—by the grace of God to speak the truth, and be men of our word—to be those that can be trusted—those upon whom our neighbors can look as honest men—men that pay our debts—men that have no unfulfilled obligations.
Epaphras—“a servant of Christ.” We are all servants of Christ in a sense. If you are a Christian, you are a servant of Christ. O, what a privilege! There is no such thing as an unnecessary member of the body of Christ, as a useless member. In biology they try to tell us that we have certain things in our bodies that once were functional, but they have ceased to be so—they do not mean anything anymore. I am not saying that I agree with the biologists. There are no needless remnants hanging to our bodies. So in the body of Christ, every member has a functional responsibility. We are all servants of Christ—not servants of men, but servants of Christ, and our orders come from up there. You cannot go to a brother and ask him what you should do. You have to get your directions from Christ. Epaphras was a servant of Christ. What did he do? He was a mighty man of prayer. He was a laboring brother in a very special sense, and you can be a laboring brother or a laboring sister in this sense. This is an avenue of service open to every Christian, and it is a most valuable one. There is a brother present who said something to me a number of years ago, and I have never forgotten it. He was speaking about prayer and how to pray, and he said,
“Well, the best way to learn to pray is to pray.”
You will never learn to pray by reading a book on it. You will learn to pray by praying. Here is a man who prayed, and it says he labored earnestly. It takes real purpose of heart to pray, and the fact that we do so little of it proves that.
O, how Satan likes to keep us from our knees. What will our service amount to if it is not sanctified by prayer? A prayer-less life is a barren life. You may be so active in Christian service that you have no time to pray, but it will be a barren life regardless of all activity. Epaphras was not satisfied to see every believer brought to the Lord’s Table. The burden of his heart was that they might stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. Don’t we all need praying for, when we look at it from that angle?
(To Be Continued)