There are only two verses
left to Paul's letter to the Colossians, and as he continued his list
of “fellow prisoners, laborers and servants” in chapter four and
verse seventeen, Paul wrote of another man who was instrumental in
the ministry - “Archippus”. “Archippus” was
given a special charge to “take heed” where we read:
And say to Archippus,
Take heed to the ministry
which you have received
in the Lord, that you fulfill it.
The verse begins, “And
say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry...” Paul
began this verse with the word “And” which
denotes a continuum, and we should remember that the chapters and
verses were not originally in these letters. They were added to make
it easy for us to access certain references in the Bible. Paul
desired for the church “say to Archippus”
whose name means “master of the horse” to “take heed”
or “to see or discern with the bodily eye” or “to
discern mentally, observe, perceive, discover, understand,to turn the
thoughts or direct the mind to a thing, to consider, contemplate, to
look at, to weigh or carefully examine”. “Achippus” was
to “take heed to the ministry” which is the Greek word
“diakonia” from
which we get our English word “Deacon” and means “the
ministration of those who render to others the offices of Christian
affection esp. those who help meet need by either collecting or
distributing of charities”. A “diakonia” was to be “servicing
and ministering by executing the commands of others”.
The
verse continues, “which you have received in the
Lord,” Paul takes the
time to refer to the source of “Archippus'”
ministry. He wrote, “which you have received”
or “accepted or
acknowledged and professes to be” “in the
Lord” or “with or
by he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of
deciding; the master”. In other words, “Archippus”
received his ministry from the Lord, and he was to “take
heed” to the ministry
given to him.
The verse goes on to say, “that
you fulfill it.” Paul ends his
direction to “Archippus”
by this short phrase, “that you fulfill it”
which means “to make full, to fill up, i.e. to fill to the
full, to cause to abound, to furnish or supply liberally, to render
full, i.e. to complete”. “Archippus” was to “to carry
into effect, bring to realization, realize” everything that his
ministry required. His “ministry” was given to him by the
Lord Jesus, and he was to administer it in every way possible.
When we
think about “Archippus” and the “ministry” in
which he was to “take heed”, we may think about our own
ministry. If we were examined for our measure of fulfillment in our
ministry would it be said that we have done everything possible to
bring it into full effect? Paul's charge to “Archippus”
may benefit us the best by inserting our name in his place. In other
words, Paul would say, “And say to (insert our names here) take
heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you
fulfill it”, and may the Lord give us the wisdom and strength
to do so.
Next
time we end the book of Colossians and learn from three final phrases
from Paul, so read ahead, and
we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
Look
for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From
Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be
Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the
Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com
; http://www.barnesandnobles.com
; download to e-books, and find it locally at
http://www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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