There is Power in Unity
By Nick Bibile
Ephesians 6: 21 So that you also may know how I am and what I
am doing, Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will
tell you everything. 22 I have sent him to
you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may
encourage your hearts.
23 Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the
Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Grace be with all who
love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.
Today we will finish the book
of Ephesians. Apostle Paul writing this letter from prison has come to the end
and the final word why he wrote this epistle is to encourage the Ephesians
believers, it was directed to the local believers but praise God as God in his
decrees directed to all universal believers where our hearts are encouraged.
Last week we saw without hi
technology and against all the odds the apostles were able to spread the gospel
message to many parts of the world, Paul alone with his missionary journeys
took the gospel to Europe. He suffered much for Christ, he was stoned, ship
wrecked, went without hunger, he was beaten and put in prison, yet he was able
to witness, make disciples and plant churches. How did a single man do against
all the odds? It is by the power of God. Paul did not do by himself there were
many involved in his ministry, read the final chapter of Romans and see some of
the names of people who helped him.
If the church is united to
Christ in one accord with the power of the Holy Spirit nothing can stop taking
the gospel message. When people are united in one accord there is an awesome
power, for the Christians it is the power of God but for the non-Christians it
is the power of the devil. A good example is found in the book of Genesis.
Genesis 11:1 Now the whole earth had one language and the
same words. 2 And as people migrated from the
east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make
bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen
for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us
build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make
a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” 5 And the Lord came
down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Behold,
they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the
beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be
impossible for them.
We hear of street gangs,
individually these people do not have much power but when they are together one
in mind they can be pretty powerful in evil. When you drive down the street and
see a bunch of young men together, there is a fear that comes to us. There
terrorists, why are they so powerful? Because they are united together as one
accord.
But as Christians we need to
have unity in the church, unity in holiness not in worldliness, unity in God’s
love, unity in sound doctrine not compromising, unity in godliness.
Even in Godhead there is
unity.
Joh 10:30 I and my Father are
one.
The High Priestly prayer of
Jesus
John
17:11 And
I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you.
Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be
one, even as we are one.
Now on the other hand if
Christians who are living in holiness, separated from the worldliness and sin
and are united together there is the power of the Holy Spirit in them and it is
the greatest power then can have to witness to a dying world. When the
believers pray together in one accord there is God’s power. Remember when the
rulers, the elders and the scribes threatened Peter and John not to speak or
teach in the name of Jesus? What did they do? They got all the believers
together and prayed in one accord to God.
Acts
4:31 And when
they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and
they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of
God with boldness.
Acts 4:32 Now
the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one
said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had
everything in common. 33 And with great power
the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,
and great grace was upon them all.
Paul mentions the name of
Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord. He was a
companion of Paul. Without Tychicus we may not have the book of Ephesians. Why?
Some biblical scholars say, he was Paul's amanuensis (a person
whose job is to write down what another person says or to copy what another
person has written) Tychicus was certainly highly regarded by Paul, who
referred to him as a "beloved brother and faithful minister in the
Lord"
He was united in one accord with Paul. Tychicus was one of
the Christians who accompanied
Paul on a part of his journey from Macedonia to Jerusalem.
Acts 20:1 After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them, he said farewell and departed for Macedonia. 2 When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece. 3 There he spent three months, and when a plot was made against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. 4 Sopater of Berea, the son of Pyrrhus from Berea, accompanied him; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy; and the Asians, Tychicus and Trophimus. 5 These went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas.
He is mentioned in the following books.
Col 4:7 Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord.
Titus 3:12 When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there.
2 Tim 4:12 Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus.
Apostle Paul had many Christians who encouraged him, prayed
for him and many were with him in the ministry and Tychicus was one of them.
How pastors need Tychicus, church needs a holy unity in the Lord today.
Verse 22. Why did Paul send Tychicus? That he may encourage the church. We need people who will build up and encourage one another; an encourager is a true friend. Tychicus was a true friend to Paul. True friends are hard to find. The friend in need is the friend indeed, and such friends, I say again, are hard to find. Who is a true friend? A true friend will stick to you even if you become poor.
Proverbs 19:4 Wealth brings many new friends, but a poor man is deserted by his friend.
Proverbs 17: 17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
There can be no lasting friendship between bad men. Bad men may pretend to love each other, but their friendship is a rope of sand, which shall be broken at any convenient season
Proverbs 18:24 A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
You can trust a true friend and a true friend will help you in your faults and weaknesses and will not gossip about you.
John 15:13 Greater love has no one than
this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.
John
14:23 Jesus answered him, “If
anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will
come to him and make our home with him.
If we truly
love the Lord Jesus whom we have not seen then we can love our brothers whom we
see.
John
15:12 “This
is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
Bad men may pretend to love each other, but their friendship is a rope of sand, which shall be broken at any convenient season, but a true Christian will have a genuine love of friendship.
Let me conclude the sermon; with all the hi tech available today and we have the fastest way to communicate the gospel, also during the time of the apostles they did not have great roads as they have to take foot paths, now we have freeways, high ways, every village, town and city is linked together. In USA there are 300 million people and almost all of them have cars, almost everyone owns a personal computer, we are accountable to what is given from heaven to preach the gospel to those who are perishing and going to hell.