Tychicus

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Among the early Christians there was the most earnest care in their hearts for one another, which proved how much they loved one another. And none among the apostles were more diligent in this than Paul, to whom the care of the churches was committed (2 Cor. 11:2828Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. (2 Corinthians 11:28)).
The shepherding of the sheep and lambs, led out from the Jewish fold, might be assigned to the elder Apostle, Peter, but it was to Paul that Christ looked to watch over and protect the church against the earliest and most subtle inroads of evil and destruction (John 10:3; 21:153To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. (John 10:3)
15So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. (John 21:15); 1 Peter 5:1-41The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: 2Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; 3Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. 4And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. (1 Peter 5:1‑4); Acts 20:28-3228Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. 29For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 31Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. 32And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. (Acts 20:28‑32); Col. 25Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 6For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: 7In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. 8But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. 9Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; (Colossians 3:5‑9);1), and to this trust, Paul, by the grace of God, was faithful unto the end.
But there were helpers needed in the exercise of this care over the church of God, and none, perhaps, were more beloved and esteemed as such than Tychicus, one of the converts of Asia (Acts 20:44And there accompanied him into Asia Sopater of Berea; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus; and of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus. (Acts 20:4)). Of the general turning away of those in Asia from Paul, Tychicus appears to have been an exception, for in his last writing the Apostle makes such mention of him as would lead us to believe that Tychicus had continued faithful unto Paul, even as Paul had been faithful unto the churches (2 Tim. 4:1212And Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus. (2 Timothy 4:12)). And, if this be so, the exception must be one truly of grace, and gives this beloved brother an honored and prominent place, according to the testimony of the Apostle concerning him. This testimony, though brief in its expression, carries with it the sweetest fragrance of what grace can accomplish in one who is devoted to Christ’s glory in the scene of His rejection and dishonor.
Tychicus appears to have been Paul’s messenger, and the postman of his letters both to the Ephesians and the Colossians. And the Holy Spirit bears in these epistles a lovely testimony concerning him, in commending him to the confidence and love of the saints.
“A beloved brother, and a faithful minister and fellow-servant in the Lord,” was the similar declaration of praise to the Colossians (Col. 4:77All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you, who is a beloved brother, and a faithful minister and fellowservant in the Lord: (Colossians 4:7)). Only, here we observe that he is owned as a fellow-servant with the Apostle, though willing to be subject to him as his messenger and apostle to the churches.
1. A beloved brother in the Lord.
2. A faithful minister in the Lord.
3. A fellow-servant in the Lord.
The very least that could be said of one, who, like Tychicus, had heard and believed the Word of the Lord Jesus, as preached by Paul, would be that he was a brother in Christ. But the fuller expression here would lead us to expect something more than the mere being in Christ, or a brother in Christ, much as that may mean to us in the sense of blessing. Tychicus was “a beloved brother in the Lord.” And would not such words recall us to the love of God and of Christ as lived in and walked in by him, causing him to be beloved, not only by Christ and Paul, but by all who knew him? And would not this obedience in love mark him as one who kept his Lord’s commandment, and hence the appropriateness of the expression, “in the Lord”?
This view of Christian character is indeed most lovely, commendable, and needful to follow for any successful end in our testimony as serving Christ, as we may say, in the most ordinary way. For there are none but can and ought to walk in his love towards the world, and more especially towards Christ’s own in the world.
“Love is of God, and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love.” (1 John 4:7, 87Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. (1 John 4:7‑8)).
But there is more. God has revealed His truth to us: which we are to hold and minister both in faithfulness and love. For God’s truth, which is His Word, is the foundation of all Christian testimony, and the source of all Christian unity and love. Our Lord Himself, who was the Truth, entered upon a path of obedience in this world to His God and Father “for the truth of God,” and was faithful unto Him who had appointed Him (John 14:66Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6); Rom. 15:88Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: (Romans 15:8); Heb. 3:22Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. (Hebrews 3:2)). He was, as we delight to confess “Faithful amidst unfaithfulness, Midst darkness only light.”
And so, whether with Christ or with His servants, it is real love to God, love to the truth, and love to men that produces faithfulness to God, to the truth, and also to men.
And most happily could this be said of Tychicus, that he was “a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord.” He was, we judge, a man able to teach others what had been committed unto him by Paul (2 Tim. 2:22And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. (2 Timothy 2:2)), but we know, at least, that he possessed that much-to-be-desired gift of prophecy, for he was able, much to the Apostle’s joy, to comfort the hearts of the Colossians, after he had determined their state (1 Cor. 14:1-31Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy. 2For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. 3But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. (1 Corinthians 14:1‑3); Col. 4:88Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he might know your estate, and comfort your hearts; (Colossians 4:8)). The Epistle itself, which he bore to the Colossians, would furnish such teaching as was needful to settle and establish them.
But still the faithful ministry of Tychicus, as of a beloved brother, would be most helpful to them, and would doubtless be owned of God to effect what the Apostle had so much desired, that their hearts might be comforted and knit together in love, unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery (Col. 2:22That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; (Colossians 2:2)). And what a fellow-helper and fellow-servant in the Lord would Tychicus thus become to the Apostle!
In going to the Ephesian saints with Paul’s letter to them, we observe that Tychicus again appears as a comforter. But now it is not so much to learn of their state, as it had been with the Colossians, but it was that they might know the state and affairs of the Apostle himself (Eph. 6:2222Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that ye might know our affairs, and that he might comfort your hearts. (Ephesians 6:22)). We see then, in either case, how God is able to comfort, and what “comfort of love” is ever to be found in that mutual love which is rooted in Christ. It may be safe to remark that the Ephesian saints at this time were in a better and more perfected state as regards love than were the Colossians. With these the comfort came by Tychicus knowing their state and ministering to it; with those it was more by their knowing how it went with the apostle, for the great love of Paul for the saints counted upon the love of these Ephesians, whose comfort would be in learning of the one they so much loved.
It would appear that Paul’s deep longing and anxiety for the saints at Ephesus never abated or grew indifferent. As a proof of this, we have among his last words such a statement as this, “And Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus” (2 Tim. 4:1212And Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus. (2 Timothy 4:12)).
Beloved, while we know that both Paul and Tychicus are now resting and waiting with Christ on high, let us, who are now laboring and waiting for Him below, use all diligence to walk in this same love of Christ that they walked in. May we have a renewed and deeper interest in the saints of God everywhere, and seek, as Tychicus sought, to love them and minister to them in that love, so that both they and we may be approved of Christ in that day, as having served Him on earth in that lovely and becoming spirit, as “beloved... and faithful... in the Lord.”
Soon may we hear His gracious voice, ringing like sweetest music from the morning clouds,
Then may it be ours, when with Him, to hear His faithful voice saying in the righteousness of truth,