“People to meet in heaven: Tychicus”
Ephesians 6:21-22
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus.
Let me start this morning with a question—what do Abraham Lincoln, Walt Disney, actor Sherman Hemsley and Charles Lindbergh all have in common? The correct answer is—they were mailmen, all of them!
Long before Abraham Lincoln ever became our sixteenth president, he was the 24-year-old postmaster of New Salem, Illinois--a job he held for three years, till it closed. He was such a good postmaster, he delivered mail to people’s houses when they didn’t pick it up. Then when his post office closed, he took its leftover $16 all the way to Springfield, till a postal agent came to pick it up. For good reason, they called him, “Honest Abe.”
And Walt Disney? There’s a story! He applied for the job when he was only sixteen. But he was too young to work, so they wouldn’t hire him. So he went home, put on some makeup and a disguise to look a little older, then went back and got the job. He even worked two jobs there—letter carrier by day, and route collector by night.
And Sherman Hemsley—you probably know him from that 70’s sitcom, The Jeffersons. But before he “moved on up,” he was a postal clerk, first in Philadelphia, then in New York (where he hoped to become an actor). Only when he finally got his big break did he leave the post office behind.
And Charles Lindbergh—everyone knows he was the first to fly solo across the Atlantic. But what you probably don’t know is that he spent most of his flight time delivering mail.
And that’s nothing to say of Benjamin Franklin, (the very first Postmaster General of the Continental Congress), author William Faulkner, and presidents Harry S Truman, and William McKinley. They were all mailmen too!
And in our text for today from the book of Ephesians chapter 6, we meet one more, a man named Tychicus.
Please turn with me in your Bible to page 1246. I’ll start where it says, “Final Greetings,” at verse 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. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts.”
Some thirty years after Christ died and rose again, Paul was in prison in Rome. He had already shared the gospel with the people of Antioch, Iconium, Neapolis, Berea, Corinth, and Athens, Greece, just to name a few. Now he was under house arrest, chained to a guard, waiting to die. Would it be days or months? There was no way he could possibly know.
And as he sat waiting to die, he thought of the many, many people that he loved and who loved the Lord. He prayed for them. He gave thanks to God for them. He even wrote letters to strengthen and encourage them—letters to the Ephesians, the Philippians, and the Colossians, even to a young pastor named Timothy.
There was just one problem—he was in prison in Rome. There was no way he could possibly deliver them. So who would take them? And who would speak for him?
That’s when, out of the blue, we meet a man named Tychicus, a man we want to meet in heaven.
Now your first reaction when you hear his name is probably to say, “Bless you!” “Tychicus” and “Bless you!” seem to go together!
But really his name was a special name and a beautiful name. It comes from the Greek words “tungchano” and “tuche,” words that mean, “perhaps” and “by chance.” So, in time, the name “Tychicus” came to mean, “good fortune,” “luck” and “success.”
Now we don’t know all that Paul and Tychicus did together, nor do we even know how they met. But we are so very glad they did!
The first time we hear of him is in the book of Acts. It’s there that Luke lists a group of men who accompanied Paul, men like Sopater, Aristarchus, Secundus, Trophimus and Timothy. And there, on that list, is this one named Tychicus.
Can you imagine how it must have been for him? For fifteen years, week after week, month after month, he worked, side-by-side, with the apostle Paul. He learned from him. He studied under him. He served him.
He was born in the city of Ephesus, a capital city, the home of the temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the world. It was there that he lived and learned his trade.
And it was also there that he worshipped Apollo, the god of the sun, and Artemis the goddess of the moon. He even learned that simple chant heard on everyone’s lips, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” And he prayed that if he served the gods well, and sacrificed to them, they would look down from Mt. Olympus and bless him.
But when the apostle Paul came to town, he literally turned their world upside down. For Paul preached about a different God, One who created the heavens and the earth.
And that’s when things got out of hand. For two hours, the Bible says, the people shouted, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians! Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” It was a riot. The crowd was out of control.
And Tychicus wondered too. Why should he, a Roman citizen, believe in a Jewish God?
But the more he heard Paul speak, the more he believed in Jesus, God’s Son. And he put his trust in Him.
Even more, this Jesus wasn’t the son of a god, like Hercules, with faults and failings of all kinds. He was God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God. There was no one like Him.
And after He lived a perfect life, He died a perfect death—crucified outside Jerusalem’s city wall, put to death by sinful men.
And on the third day, He rose again. No sacrifice was left. No service needed to be done. Each of us, he learned, was saved, solely and completely, by grace.
That’s why he put his faith and trust in Him. And that’s why he became such a trusted companion, confidant and friend of the apostle Paul.
Even more, look again at verse 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. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts.”
Notice those words—“beloved brother” and “faithful minister.” Tychicus was more than just a friend. He was one whom Paul loved and trusted with his whole heart.
And that’s why he could send him, with complete confidence, to speak for him, to represent him, and to encourage their hearts in the Lord.
And as he went, what did he carry with him? Paul’s letters to the Ephesians, the Philippians, and the Colossians.
Think about it for a moment. If Tychicus had not done his job and not delivered those letters, today we would have only 63 books in the Bible, instead of 66. And we would never have known Paul’s words to the Ephesians: “For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Or his words to the Philippians: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, Rejoice.” Or his words to the Colossians: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”
As far as we know, Tychicus was no great orator, thinker or organizer. His name will likely never be chiseled in stone. But he was a beloved brother and faithful minister of God.
And, by the grace of God, that’s what each of us should be—beloved sisters and brothers in Christ, faithful ministers of the gospel of God.
The Sequoiadendron giganteum, also known as the giant redwood, is the tallest tree in the world. They grow two feet taller every year, till they reach as much as three hundred feet high. Then they grow out.
The average redwood is forty feet in diameter. The largest is over a hundred feet. The thick, spongy bark can be as much as thirty-one inches thick. Even its branches are thick—some eight feet in diameter, thicker and longer than most any other tree.
The oldest redwood is one named the General Sherman in Sequoia National Park. It’s more than 275 feet high, has a base diameter of 102 feet, and weighs approximately 2.7 million pounds. Researchers guess it’s more than 2,200 years old. That’s an old tree!
But while they’re not the oldest trees, (bristlecone pines are older), they are the largest. In fact, they’re the largest living things on the planet!
But you know what’ll kill a redwood? Not old age. Even pests and fire really don’t seem to matter. The only thing that will kill them is if they fall down.
You see, while the roots of a palm tree will grow as deep as the tree is tall, (thirty feet up, and thirty feet down), the roots of a redwood only grow some six to twenty feet into the ground.
The only reason those massive trees can stand so tall is because they reach out. A three hundred foot tree will send its roots nine hundred feet out—intertwining with all the other trees in the grove.
Redwoods can’t really make it on their own. The only way they can make it is if they’re bound together with all the other trees in the grove.
And that’s just the way each of us should be. As Christians, we can’t stand alone. We can’t make it on our own. But interconnected, intertwined, and woven together, we can be the people and the church God has called us to be.
Tychicus knew that, and I hope you know it too, by grace, for Jesus’ sake.
Dear Father, You once called a man named Tychicus to be a beloved brother and faithful minister of Christ. Help even us in our time and place, to faithfully follow You. This we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen