Grace be to you, Col, 4:7-18

Good morning. We're going to proceed here with this Colossians passage. It's the last of the passages in the Ephesians Colossians series. And this is a big bite for us. Okay. So what we're going to do is somewhat like we did last week, we're divided in two. We're going to divide it in five. We'll start off with the first of those five parts.

Here is Paul, similar to what we saw in the parallel Ephesians passage. saying, as for Tychicus, he'll convey to you things that are going on with me. He can answer any questions and give you the details. And I'm going to send with him anathemas. So as they portray this here, Here's the equivalent Ephesians passage that we talked about previously, 621-24. The portion we have highlighted in blue, which is most of verses 21-22, is the part that is, as we pointed out previously, identical except for this one phrase that he adds in on the Colossians verse. And besides that, from Tychicus to your hearts, basically the Greek is identical.

Now, one of the things we'd like to point out there is that this fellow Tychicus, whom we have some information from in the New Testament, he describes him with character. And contrary to some of the things you may have heard recently, character does matter. All of these word pairs that we see in this passage are underscoring a closeness of relationship. They're talking about the relationship that Tychicus has with them. and the relationship that he has also by virtue of his character. He is a brother spiritually in the Lord. He is a servant. He is one who serves them. He is a fellow bondservant. He is likewise entirely subject to the will of Christ.

The other thing is it ends up with encouraging your hearts. One of the things I think that that points to, both Ephesians and Colossians include that phrase identically. The condition of our heart matters. It matters to the Lord. And so, as Tychicus comes and brings this letter from Paul, he comes also with his own message and his own opportunity for ministry. The Lord cares about how our heart's doing. And that's one of the very reasons that Tychicus is traveling for what would take him probably at least a couple of months to get there with the letter. Why is he coming? He's coming with this certainly what has inspired Scripture, but also because Tychicus himself can minister to their hearts. Their heart condition matters to the Lord. And now we come on to this interesting situation with this fellow Onesimus.

It's a name we haven't run into before. As a matter of fact, the only other place where he shows up is in the short book of Philemon. It's one of those books like Jude that has no chapters because all you've got is verses. It's short enough. Onesimus is one of your number. He was also from Colossae. His story is one, if you haven't looked at it in detail, it's just phenomenal. Amazing grace. Let's take a quick look at some of the things there.

This fellow Onesimus, he appears to be a runaway slave. He had run away from his master Philemon, also a believer, and come to Rome. But Onesimus had left Colossae and left the household of Philemon, an unbeliever. And as he came to Rome, somehow the Lord brought it about that he came in contact with Paul and had become a believer. And so Paul is now sending him back.

By the way, harboring and continuing to hold a runaway slave, very expensive fine. I mean very expensive. It's one of those things you're going to be paying for it for years. So the penalty was high. So it wasn't something Paul wanted to take lightly. It was considered not just illegal, but unethical for Paul to hold on to Onesimus. So he says, I imagine here's Paul telling Onesimus, Onesimus, I'm going to send you back. And Onesimus is, I'm sure, got initially some hesitation about this.

Nonetheless, he sends him back. And who is he going with? Pycagus. Now think about it. Here's Onesimus. He's saying, okay, I'm going back to this guy. I'm hundreds of miles away. It'd take two months at least to get back. I'm going back to this guy Philemon, and he has the legal right to take me out. It wasn't required, but he had that latitude.

Philemon could say, you're a runaway slave and you're done. So for Onesimus to go back was really looking upon the character of Philemon as being gracious. But there was something else along with it too. Paul sent this letter appealing for grace on the part of Onesimus, even writing in the book of Philemon with his own hand saying, if he owes you anything or if you are out anything because of his departure, I'll pay it personally.

That's amazing. That's amazing grace. So here is Paul living out this substitution of payment, carrying out the life of Christ, or actually the death of Christ, in principle, with the life of Onesimus. When we studied Philippians, we took a look at this bondservant idea, because that's one of the words that fits right in here. Onesimus was a bondservant. We saw the word show up here right at the first verse of Philemon. Paul and Timothy call themselves bondservants, as they're writing to the church at Philippi.

And this is the way it was in those days. We showed back then a Roman slave collar. This is a tag that the slave would have strapped around his neck. Basically it says, if found, please return to, and gives the return information. Or here's another one. I have escaped, hold me. If you return me to my master, and the name is given there, you shall receive a solidus, which is a gold coin. And so these were like dog tags or, you know, you've seen on various pieces of property, if found, please return to. And that's what they did with the slaves.

And so here's Onesimus, he may have had one of those around his neck. So here's Onesimus going back at high risk to his life. And yet he's going back. He's going back with a letter from Paul pleading for grace for this fellow Onesimus. Now, we're not done here. Onesimus, now here's Philemon who's also at the church at Colossae hearing this, so keep that in mind. Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, this has got to be a shock to Philemon who's there in the church hearing these words.

Isn't this amazing? Who's one of your number, okay? He's described with a character similar to that of Tychicus, the one who is carrying the letters to the church at Ephesus in Colossae, and who did, from some of our estimates, probably at least a year of his life carrying messages and letters for Paul and basically running errands, running around through the Roman Empire, going long distance. Here is a short section of Philemon, and I'd just like to point out a few things. This word, begotten, that Paul claims here I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whom I have begotten."

It's interesting, this is the same thing Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4.15. This is a spiritual birthing. So it says basically that Paul had a part in Onesimus becoming a believer and being born into the family of God. So this is the first point that Paul makes there.

Onesimus, his name means useful or profitable, so what does he write to Philemon? Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my imprisonment, who formerly was useless to you, but now is useful both to you and to me. Very interesting contrast, isn't it? Here's this fellow whose name means useful and profitable, and he says he previously wasn't very profitable to you, especially since he was gone. But now he is useful. Now he is profitable.

The other pattern, and we've seen it both in the letter to the church at Ephesus and in Colossae, was this word formerly. Pate is the Greek word. Formerly, but now. It's a pattern that we saw in Ephesians 2, 11-13, also in Ephesians 5-8. And then in Colossians 3, 7, and 8, we get close to the same thing showing up in the first half dozen verses of Ephesians chapter 2, where he says, formerly you were this way, formerly you were this way, but instead of saying, but now, it's, but God, but what God did.

And so here is Onesimus, who formerly as an unbeliever was useless to you, but now he's a believer. He's now useful. So here's what's happening. Imagine, here's Tychicus, and we have some description of the character of this fellow Tychicus. And his name is brought up several times in the New Testament. Inesimus is going with him back to Colossae. Can you imagine those times?

You're carrying Paul's letters. You're spending hours and hours every day walking along Roman roads. Lots to fellowship about. And by the way, you've got some letters to read too. Some really good ones. Imagine carrying the first copy of that and being able to share it together and talk about it together. That's neat stuff.

So for at least a couple of months, while they traveled from Rome to Colossae, and we don't know exactly which path, it could have been entirely on land, could have been partly on ship, the two of them spent time together going from Rome to Colossae and fellowshipping.

Now the name Aristarchus is brought up. Basically the name means chief of the dinner. I was always chief of the dinner when I was growing up. Anyway, Aristarchus here is a Jewish believer from Thessalonica, and he's mentioned in Acts, and it's interesting, the first time he's mentioned in Acts, he's being dragged out of the theater. So, tough way to get introduced to the Christian faith, but that's the first time he's mentioned here.

Several times in Acts, he's called here a fellow prisoner, and in Philemon, he's called a fellow worker. He's together with us. He's with us. He's a part of us. Between the two passages, we know that he was with Thicacus and also this fellow Epaphras. We'll take a look at that a little bit more. He's called a fellow prisoner. And John, who is also called Mark, we'll take a look at his life too, with a fellow Deimus. Not a lot of information, but we'll take a brief look at his life and Dr. Luke, of whom you've of course heard. Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, sends you his greetings and also Barnabas, Cousin Mark, about whom you receive instructions. Now, interesting, we don't have the instructions. I'd be real curious to know what those were, but we don't have them. If he comes to you, and I'm wondering sometimes why the if is there, but okay. If he comes to you, welcome him.

So that's an interesting point here. Here's John, also called Mark, and that's a point made a few times in Acts. This fellow, sometimes called John Mark, and in a few places we'll refer to him that way, John Mark, John, who is also called Mark, sometimes just simply Mark. He's the author of the Gospel of Mark.

And we find out from Acts 2.12 that the disciples met at his mother's house in Jerusalem. Though it's not a nailed down type fact, it may be that that was the same house that Jesus had the Last Supper with the disciples in. It may be that that's also the same house where the disciples were gathered on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2.

Now, you remember, if you're as old as I am or a little bit older, remember when we used to live in black and white? And we even had this show on, This Is Your Life, that was in black and white. Remember that? Well, we're going to play John Mark, This Is Your Life. step through his life here.

A young man, and we would say here likely Mark, escapes naked in the Garden of Gethsemane. This is the first place that he appears to be personally mentioned. Why do we say it's him? The scripture says it's a young man and they tried to grab him and he ran away naked because they grabbed the sheet that he was holding around himself. The only thing is, that's the only gospel that mentions that. How would he know? Everybody's running. So anyway, an indication that it's probably him.

Now, Mark begins a missionary journey, and remember that Acts 12.12 says that the house where they met was his mother's house. It didn't mention the father, so we don't know where Mark's father is here. Mark begins a missionary journey with Paul and his own cousin Barnabas, and then bails on them both.

He gets to Paphos and he says, I'm going home. I don't know how he said it, but anyway, he did go home. After a short disagreement between Paul and Barnabas, Mark goes with Barnabas to Cyprus. Why? Because Paul says, I'm not taking that guy with me on this journey. He flaked out last time and we can't have that happen. And so they parted directions. Barnabas and his cousin there traveled on to the Isle of Cyprus, which is where Barnabas was from. And that's the last we hear of them until later on in these letters.

Now, here at this point where he's writing, early 60s, perhaps about 61, 62 AD, here is Mark who is in Rome with Paul, and here's Paul making note of his presence there. And then, in his last letter that we have, this is 2 Timothy, that may be his last letter period, but it's certainly the last one that we have, Paul actually asks for Mark. This is the guy he said, I'm not going on a journey with him, earlier. But now he actually asks for Mark, saying that he is useful. And then finally, we find that Mark is with Peter, when Peter is writing the letter of 1 Peter.

So we have this kind of chronology of Mark's life. One more point, and that is that Mark did write the Gospel of Mark. It has a Roman flavor to it. And so that would suggest also this period of time where Mark had some time in Rome and was with other believers who were in Rome. The one other point I would make is that Barnabas seems to have had time with Mark that was pivotal in his life.

Before that time, Mark is the guy probably who ran away in the night. The gospel streaker, I guess you could call him, but he ran away in the night. when they tried to grab the sheet, they ran away naked. He flaked out on Paul and Barnabas, and yet his trip with Barnabas, though we have no details, seems to be the turning point. From there on out, Paul calls him useful. He even asks for him in the last letter that we have, and he offers the Gospel of Mark. I would suggest to you that the information we have points to the ministry of Barnabas with his relative being very valuable. in John Mark's life.

Then we have this other fellow who is not mentioned anywhere else, also Jesus who is called Justice. The name Jesus would be how it would come across from Jesus in the Greek, and he is one of the Jews who would be called Yeshua, or we would carry that over Joshua, meaning Savior. It was a fairly common name, and so the alternate name was Justice.

We do know that he was a prison companion to Paul. He was certainly a Jewish fellow. Paul calls him a worker, and he also says he is an encouragement. So here's a guy who's not mentioned a lot, but good things are said of him. One of the other things I think we can point out from this, this is the only reference to this fellow, but do you think he matters? Yeah. Here's a fellow we don't have lots of information about. And yet he was somebody that Paul found helpful and useful in the brief reference that we see.

Somebody that obviously the Lord said, yeah, I'll die for justice. I'll die for him. I'll pay the price. He's worth it. And I think that's something for us to kind of take home with us in our hearts if we're wondering at any time, boy, you know, do I matter to the Lord? Yeah. The answer is yes. just like this fellow justice. Not a lot of mention perhaps, maybe where the Lord has us isn't high profile. May still very well be important to note instances like this. Yeah, guys like justice matter.

Now, these are the only fellow workers for the kingdom of God who are from the circumcision and have proved to be an encouragement to me. And so these, we have Aristarchus, John Mark, and Justice, all three of these are Jewish believers. The term of the circumcision is a term that was used for those who were Jews. And they are the only ones which tells us that any other names that are mentioned, those people are not Jews. And it also points something else out. Paul was not being hypothetical when he said that the church was composed of Jews and Gentiles. He says, I've got Jews and Gentiles right here, right here with me, and we're all working together. And so that's another key point to bring forward from this passage here.

Now, how about this phrase, the Kingdom of God? We need to kind of figure out what that's talking about. One of the things we pointed out earlier as we were going through Ephesians and Colossians, Scripture speaks of the universal Kingdom of God, that is, God's rule over all of His creation. I find that referenced in Psalms and in Jeremiah as a couple instances. There are other places that do it as well.

God is the ruler over all of his creation. In that sense, there's the universal kingdom, and you'll find passages that apply to that. Christ also rules as king of the Jews and the king of kings during the coming millennium, the thousand year period of time in which Christ will reign upon the earth. This is also a kingdom reign.

So we need to ask the question, if that's clear, where's the confusion here? God is clearly the king of his creation, that's the universal kingdom, and Christ is clearly the king of the Jews, ultimately that's going to be fulfilled in the millennial kingdom. The passage that we point to there, here's Pilate asking Jesus when he's about to sentence him, are you the king of the Jews?

And yes, it's as you say. And that's the sign that he has put over Jesus' head, even though it was done, perhaps, with some antagonism. That's what was there, and it was a true statement. When we look at the Church, however, as we go through Ephesians and Colossians, certainly, and through the rest of the New Testament epistles, what becomes clear is the relationship between Christ and the Church.

Christ is the bridegroom, the Church is the bride. Christ is our Lord. We have that repeatedly stated in Scripture. But Christ has never called directly the church's king. So, interesting point to note. We, as church believers, will have an inheritance in the kingdom of God. As a matter of fact, as you see that phrase in the New Testament, that is most commonly what's pointed to. We will have an inheritance in the kingdom of God, and he mentions those who will not have an inheritance. The church isn't the definition of the universal kingdom of God. There's certainly much more under God's universal kingship over his creation. Nor are we the definition of the Millennial Kingdom, although we have a part in both of those.

In the Millennial Kingdom, the fulfillment of the promises to David are for Israel, where Christ, who is of David's house, remember this is part of the promise to Mary here, who is of David's house, that is, of his lineage, will sit on David's throne as King of the Jews, over David's kingdom, that is the nation of Israel. And that was a promise made directly to David and reiterated in more specific fulfillment as the angel Gabriel spoke to Mary. And so we have these passages here in the Old Testament and the angel speaking to Mary telling her as we see in verse 32 and 33, he will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, specific and will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom will be no end. The other point to bring out is the church does not replace Israel.

Here's Romans 11, 1 and 2, I say then God has not rejected his people, has he? May it never be. And then in verse 2, God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. And then finally later on in that same chapter, From the standpoint of the gospel, they, that is the Jews, because the whole chapter is discussing that, are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God's choice, they are, present tense, beloved, for the sake of the fathers. Those are the ones that God promised there. For the gifts and the calling of God, that is to the Jews, God having gifted and called the forefathers, are irrevocable.

Okay, now, next thing he mentions here is Epaphras. Both verses 12 and 13 relate to this fellow Epaphras who, like we mentioned from Onesimus, were both of them from Colossae. So they're both, as they're taking the letter to the Colossians, they're both heading home. Onesimus, a little questionable maybe how he's feeling about it, but he's heading home too.

One of the things that comes out here, Paul mentioned him right at the very beginning of the letter in Colossians 1.7, but that's getting to be almost two years ago, so I don't expect you to remember that. Remind you now, he also mentioned this fellow Epaphras in Philemon 23. The rest of what Paul wrote about Epaphras here is worth our taking a look at. So we're going to examine that here.

How is Epaphras praying? always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God." This phrase, laboring earnestly, is from an athletic term. Agonizomai. We get our word agony from that same family of words. And it was from the Greek concept and definition of an athletic event. So when he's constantly laboring for you, he's not just sort of mildly laying back and nonchalantly saying a prayer here and there. He is intense about it. The words here translated perfect and fully assured, because that's the direction that Epiphras is praying, convey growing to spiritual maturity, that's the word perfect, and standing complete as we already are in our position.

Those are things that were brought out in Colossians 2.10.

Epaphras was praying with an athletic intensity that they would walk with Christ while seated with Christ. Ever walk while you're seated? That's exactly what the Lord has in mind, and that's exactly what Epaphras was praying for for these believers. They're seated with Christ. That's great. They need to understand it and know it from that place. Now walk. Walk while you're seated.

Earlier in this very same letter, the first chapter, we proclaim Him, Paul writes, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom so that we may present every man, here's the word that we saw in this passage earlier, complete. And in Christ for this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power which works mightily within me. Both the words for complete and labor are the words that Paul uses in this passage for Epaphras. Let's take a look at something.

Is Epaphras able to admonish the believers in Colossae while he's in Rome? Yes? No? No. Okay. He can't. He's in Rome. He's hundreds of miles away. It's going to take two months at a good clip to walk there. He's not doing that. He's not teaching them while he is in Rome.

But notice that Paul points to these same words this word teleos is the same word he uses in Colossians 4.12, and this word for labor, agonizomai, this athletic level intensity in his prayer, those two words he uses for Epaphras while Epaphras cannot admonish and teach. So Epaphras just sits down and sulks, right? Is that what he does? No!

What does he do He says, I can't admonish and teach these believers, but with athletic intensity, he can pray for their spiritual growth. So what does Paul say about it? He says, I testify. And notice, when you testify, it's not something that you say, well, I kind of think he's doing this. You're not allowed to get up there and just sort of, you know, speculate.

He says, I can tell you on the basis of testimony, this guy is intense about the way he's praying for you, and he prays like this. It's very evident how Epaphras is praying for these people. The concern that Epaphras has is not superficial in passing. It is intense and notable enough that Paul can say, I testify about the character of epiphany prayer for these people.

Do you know somebody that you would like to see growing in the Lord and you can't be there personally to do anything about it? Have you ever been in that situation? Are you there now? We can pray. And it's worth doing. Paul certainly encourages that here. And he seems to use the same words that go along with teaching and admonishing. Are you not there to teach and admonish the person? Will a person not hear you? You can pray. Can you pray to the same end?

Yeah. And can you use the exact same words for the intensity of it as if you were doing it? Yep. There's some power in that. The power is in the Lord Jesus Christ, not just in the prayer. It's clear here that Epaphras is from Colossae, but that his passion and intensity for these people is carried out right in front of Paul, even though he's hundreds of miles from these people and isn't there to teach and admonish them. He cannot directly address them right at that time, but it's very apparent to Paul that he has a heart for them and wants them to grow. So he is praying with that same athletic intensity that he would carry out personally and directly if he could do so.

Here's a larger map showing the locations of Ephesus and Colossae there. And they're roughly 100 miles apart. Roman roads connect them. In Colossae, there's the Lycus Valley there, and you've got Colossae, and then several miles away, Laodicea, and then across the valley from there, Hierapolis. They're all within a few miles of each other and within less than one day's travel. a few hours travel at most.

So here's Epaphras, and he's been working in each of those places to grow a church. At the moment, he's with Paul, and so the intensity that he would have if he were face-to-face is now carried over in personal prayer. Now we have Luke, the beloved physician, sends you his greetings, and also Demas. greet the brethren who are in Laodicea, and also Nympha and the church that are in their house. Here we see that Luke is a physician, and we also see, because Paul said these other names, those are the Jews, so that says Dr. Luke is a Gentile. Now here's something real interesting. Here's Dr. Luke's involvement. He appears from Paul's second journey at about Troas, which is right across the water from Philippi and Thessalonica, At Troas, that's where Luke's name first shows up in Acts, and you begin seeing from there to the end of Acts a frequent reference to us and we. So Acts, in the last part there, starting at chapter 16, much of it is first-hand testimony and not Dr. Luke just reporting everything somebody else said. Between Paul, Mark, and Luke, you've got practically almost two-thirds of the New Testament. It's right there in the same room, probably.

Now there's this fellow, Demas. We said we'd mention him. He isn't mentioned a lot. What's interesting, he's mentioned here in Philemon 24, and then 2 Timothy 4, 9 and 10, the last of Paul's letters that we have, he says, Make every effort to come to me soon, for Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Here's Paul at his desperate hour. Paul in this chapter is saying, my life's poured out. I'm just about done here.

Demas bailed. Now, does that mean Demas is just really a bad dude from here on out? Is he just plain shot? Do we just scratch him off the list and say, oh well? What do you think? What happened to John Mark? So we don't know the rest of the story on Demas. I would submit to you that while we don't know exactly what happened, is there the possibility that Demas turned around too after a time? Could be. Could be. We'll have to leave that up to the Lord.

Now, greet the brethren who are in Laodicea and also in Nympha and the church that is in her house. There was a relationship obviously between the churches. Epaphras was at a minimum one who had been working between the churches and now Tychicus was able to run things between the churches and certainly might have been a position to do that. Who knows, maybe even Onesimus might be involved in bringing things between the churches here. One of the other things we point out here is that house churches were pretty much the norm. The earliest evidence that we have of anything other than a house that somebody lived in, being a church from around 200 AD. And even that was a house with the inner walls broken out.

So this appears to be the pattern, and he's just continuing that pattern here. Paul then asks them to read the letters, and there's also making sure this other church gets a copy, you know, make sure they take a look at it. And so one of the things we point out here is the Apostles had these activities in collecting and distributing and rereading the New Testament documents.

And we see evidence of that here in the public reading in Colossians 4.16 and in the circulation of Scripture. Get it from this church and into the next. We also see reference to the faith, and we pointed this out before, I didn't put it in your handout, But there is a concern for the doctrines that were taught by the apostles being conveyed to the churches.

And it says, for your part, read my letter that is coming from Laodicea. Now, this letter has been lost to us. We have no copy of it. It doesn't appear to be the letter from Ephesus. That's a different letter. Some have speculated that it is, and I think there's good evidence that it's not. Nor, there was also a fake letter to the Laodiceans that was written about 300 years later. I don't think Paul wrote that, do you? 300 years later in Latin, and it's short, so it's not that fake one either.

So this is one apparently the Lord saw fit not to include in scripture, but we have the reference to it. In 17 and 18, say to Archippus, and that's chief of the horses, horse chief, He's mentioned here, he's in Philemon, verse 2. Between the two places, we only know that he had a God-given ministry from the Lord. He was not Jewish, of course, because he wasn't among those listed there.

Paul desires that he fulfill that ministry. Paul calls him a fellow soldier. And I guess the point that I would bring out of this, if you're a believer here this morning, the Lord has a ministry for you. It may be High profile, it may not be. And that's fine.

But while Paul doesn't go into detail as to what it is, he is desiring that Archippus fulfill it. So the question I would have for you as you look at this is, what ministry does the Lord have me in? Why the importance on fulfilling it? And by whose strength do I fulfill it?

Things to think about. Then finally, Paul says in verse 18, I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my imprisonment. Grace be with you. Paul oftentimes had others write with him or for him and frequently included their names in the beginning of the letter. He would dictate apparently to them and then take some portion. We see examples here in several of the New Testament epistles where Paul would then write with his own hand as if to indicate, yes, this is genuinely from me. and signed it accordingly.

In Galatians 6.1, he says, see with what large letters I write. Some have speculated that perhaps had to do with an eye condition. It may be just all capitals.

We don't know. His reminder of the imprisoned wasn't trying to, you know, dig up a lot of sympathy. He is simply asking for prayer. He is wanting them to remember him in prayer. There were other needs, of course, but the people locally were taking care of that. He says, remember me in prayer. That's worth doing. He'd already asked them to pray for him. So that was clear.

And then finally, grace be with you. Paul always ended his letters, and I can say that across the board. He always has ended his letters with grace. As we started Ephesians and Colossians, one of the things that he started off with, grace to you. Now he does it again, he ends with grace here. In every letter he wrote, he wished grace from the Lord.

This Greek word charis, and it actually shows up more times than what comes across in English, where it says giving thanks, it has that word grace built into it. Where it's joy, a related word, rejoicing, giving graciously, all those are words related to grace, so it shows up even more than what comes across in our English. But the use of this charis family of words in Ephesians and Colossians had a different tilt than what we often see, and even different from the ones of the Philippians.

Notice the source, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus. The source is personal. It has to do with our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where you get it from. You don't get it shipped in a UPS package. It comes from the Lord. It has to do with our expression of God's character.

It's not just grace to you, it's grace through you. And the peace that goes along with it in the greeting has to do with the outflowing of God's grace expressed in our lives. This grace that He starts and ends with, isn't that a wonderful way for us to end looking at each of these letters? Don't we so desperately need that grace? Isn't it a marvelous thing?

And ultimately, it's something that we've pointed out before, Ephesians 2.7, that grace is so phenomenal, so massive, that it will take eternity for us to be shown it all.

It's huge. It's massive. It is not, though He ended every letter with it, monotonous. It will be exciting a trillion years from now. God will still be revealing it. It's huge. Let's pray. Lord, as we look at your Word, we've seen wonderful things. We've seen such great depth. We have seen, as we saw here at the end, a wish for grace. And Lord, how very much we need exactly that.

We thank you for the grace that you've shown to us. And not only that, the eternal revealing of it, because of its immensity. Because you are the infinite, eternal God. Thank you that we can depend upon you for all things because of your marvelous grace. In Jesus name, Amen.