November 15, 2019
Colossians 4:17
Tell Archippus: “See to it that you complete the ministry you have received in the Lord.”
New International Version (NIV)
After Jesus, whose is the first face you want to see in heaven?  Is there anyone besides Jesus you would really like to meet for the first time?  In heaven we will know each other, and we will know people we never knew here.  Paul told the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 13:12 we will know as we are known.  No longer looking in a dark mirror, the same way God knows us we will know each other. 

There are lots of people in heaven whom I want to know.  In my study of my family history I have run into many preachers whom I never met.  Some of my people were abolitionist Baptist preachers who opposed slavery while they lived in South Carolina in the Colonial period of America.  Talk about courage!  I need to meet them and hear how that worked.  God sustained them when they stood for right against a world gone wrong.  I want that kind of courage, too. 

Paul often mentions his friends and coworkers by name in his letters.  In this passage alone he mentions Mark whose desertion on a missionary journey led to a schism between Paul and Barnabas.  Later that schism was healed.  Then there is a man named Jesus who went by Justus (I think we can understand why).  Epaphras was there on his knees wrestling in prayer like pastors do.  Luke, the beloved Physician was right there with Paul.  I wonder if he was writing his gospel and the book of Acts or just taking notes at this point.  Paul mentions Demas who would one day walk away from Paul because he loved the world more than God. 

Then Paul greets Nympha who has a church in her house.  In Scotland this summer I saw a church building that had been abandoned and sold to become an apartment complex.  But Nympha’s house became a meeting place for the church.  I would like to meet her.

Then we have Archippus.  In the letter to Philemon Paul calls him a fellow soldier. Here, Paul just tells him, “See to it that you fulfill the ministry the Lord gave you.”  So what was that?  Archippus knew.  Now it was time for him to do.  If you meet him before I do, maybe you can ask him what I wonder, “Did you do it?”  It’s delicate, isn’t it?  “Archippus, Paul called you out in front of two thousand years of believers telling you to finish what God gave you to do.  Did you do it?”  On the other hand, he might ask me and you the same question.  How would we answer that?  Have we done what the Lord has told us to do?  He may ask.
Pray with me:      
Lord, we thank you for completing the good work you have started in us.  Help us to do our part today.  Remind us again about the good works that you have prepared for us to do after we have become your servants.  As soon as we finish praying help us to get busy doing what you have told us to do.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.   
This year our Every Day with Jesus readings will follow The Bible Project Read Scripture Plan.  Copies of this reading plan are available at Tallowood Baptist Church, or download 
the app at readscripture.org.  Read through the Bible with us in 2019!
Joyfully, 
Duane 
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