Faithful soldier, servant

I'd like you to turn with me, if you would please, to the epistle of Philemon. In verse 1, Paul a prisoner of Jesus Christ, Timothy our brother unto Philemon, our dearly beloved and fellow laborer. Now down please to verse 16, but not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother, beloved, especially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh and in the Lord.

Now verse 24, verse number 24, Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellow laborer, fellow laborers, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, amen. Now please just come back just a little further in the epistle to verse number 23. There, salute the Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus.

Now back please to verse 2, I should have picked up verse 2 at the beginning, it's really what's on my heart, and to our beloved Aphia and Archippus, or Archippus, whatever way you want to pronounce that, you can go both ways, our fellow soldier, now notice a fellow laborer in verse 1, but a fellow soldier, verse number 2, and to the church in thy house. Now back to the Colossian epistle, Colossians, and chapter 4, Colossians 4, verse number 17, and say to Archippus, take heed to the ministry, we've been hearing about ministry, take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, and that thou fulfill it. I know I spoke at the prayer meeting last night, and may be a little hesitant to get up this morning, but felt this would follow what we've been hearing from our brother Brody this morning relative to ministry.

Here is a ministry that a man had received, but there's something that's going wrong, something that's just not the same Archippus that he was, so something's happening, and it's concerning the Apostle as he's writing, so I'm gonna think of this man Archippus this morning and speech just a little bit about him, and trust it'll be an encouragement, yet a challenge to all of us. Interesting that there's only two in our Bible that are referred to as fellow soldiers, fellow soldiers, Archippus and Epaphroditus, only two in your New Testament that are fellow soldiers. Now you would ask yourself the question, what is a fellow soldier? If I a fellow soldier, could I really be looked upon as a fellow soldier in testimony today? But we'll come back to that, but the reason I read verse number one and later is there's only two again that are fellow laborers.

Nice to have fellow preachers, but it's better to have fellow laborers, men that are prepared to go to work, that means peeling off the jacket, whatever lies to your hand, and be able to do it. Two men that are fellow soldiers, two men that are fellow laborers, and those two are Philemon, and of course the other was Demotheus, fellow laborers. Well those are big fields.

I mean if I could go from this conference just being a better fellow laborer, fellow laborer, and if I can understand and grasp what it means to be a fellow soldier. Now that man as a fellow soldier was linked with a particular ministry that was given unto him, and he is being warned by the apostle, or maybe a note given to him, take heed he says to the ministry which thou hast received, not necessarily from the Lord, but in the Lord, and he goes on to say that thou fulfill it. In other words, don't neglect it.

Every believer here this morning has a ministry in the Lord. I say, I'm not a public speaker, I don't, you have a ministry in the Lord, whatever it might be, maybe something that is hardly noticed by others, but there's something that you can do that is a ministry in the Lord. I would take from the passage that Apphia was his mother, and very obviously as as you read the chapter there in Philemon, we read of his of his father Philemon, Apphia, and Archippus.

So three things I want you to notice about the man. First of all, he was a son in the family. Wouldn't you like to have a son in the family like Archippus? A son in the family.

Not only was he a son in the family, he was a servant in the fellowship. A servant in the fellowship, that's the word that is used. He not only was a soldier, but he was a servant, and we are servants.

So a son in the family and a servant in the fellowship, but also a soldier in the force. In other words, there's things that he had to contend with, things that he had to face up to, things that he had to take a stand about, if he was going to be a soldier in this force, if he was going to be this honored title as a fellow soldier. You say, well, it sounds a little militant to me.

I'm just not sure if I'm that type of a person. I can understand you being that kind of a person, but that's just not me. Oh, isn't it? The word of God teaches that we can be that.

I would say that what was maybe happening in his life, we're not just specifically told, but not just the same. Can I suggest to you things that maybe were just mounting and they just got to be too much from him? False teachers. False teachers.

He just didn't feel he could stand against it anymore. I really think, if you read the Colossian epistle, the Colossian passage back earlier in the verses that I did not take the time to read, he maybe had moved, okay? He maybe thought, this is all right meeting in dad's house, but it's a little too close. I'm gonna go ten miles, maybe was it to the north? To Laodicea.

And I'll just be there in Laodicea. The pressure will be off me, and maybe you're saying, you know, it's all right for Paul to say about Onesimus coming back, but what he did to my dad? That wasn't right. Maybe he didn't think it was made right.

I speak, and I'm not speaking of myth, and I know I honestly say that. Unfortunately, I've had to speak with people, because people have come to me, sometimes about things that happened to their dad. And because of that, it literally, it literally covered over everything else that came to their hand relative to testimony, because of something that happened in the past.

That's very easy for me to say, well hey, get over it. Get past it. But they didn't think it was made right.

But what are you gonna do? Are you gonna sacrifice what you can be, your ministry, because of that? And so the Apostle wanted to see this good man, Archippus, a son of the family, recovered, and be the Archippus that he was. I don't think that he'd left the assembly. He may have moved, like I say, from the testimony, the Colossae assembly that met in Philemon's house, but he didn't leave the testimony.

Okay? Didn't leave. It's a dark day when anybody leaves the testimony, but I think that maybe, just maybe, he had made a move. Now we're speaking about a fellow soldier and a fellow servant.

We're thinking of two things, at least I am. I want you to think of it this way. A fellow soldier guards the honor of his name.

Guards the honor of his name. A fellow servant will guard the honor of his possessions, what the king possesses. Because you remember when Paul writes to Timothy, he qualifies what is required in a soldier.

He said, now therefore endure hardness. Hardness. That doesn't mean you buckle up and you toughen up against the situation, but there are things that are hard to deal with, brethren.

I don't have to tell overseers that in the meeting here this morning. There's things that come our way and you just like... There was an oversight that come to me and they said, I said, well, where's Brother Sosa? Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. They said, when something like this comes up, he's off, he's gone.

He just can't handle it. He's a good brother, but they said he just can't handle it. Is that enduring hardness as a good soldier? I'm sorry, but I am thankful at times I don't have to take some of the guff and nonsense that overseers take today.

And I hope you're not a contributor to that. I hope you can rightly pray for them and support them, as reminded in ministry last week in its stout. So endure hardness, Paul says, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

No man that woreth, he says, entangles himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who hath chosen him. Chosen him to be a soldier. I don't think he had great possessions.

I'm not sure if he's all caught up in the things of this life, but in other words, there's the qualifications of a soldier that is going to honor the name of the king. Now let me tell you, just go back to remind you of one that didn't do that back in the Old Testament. A soldier that failed, and he should never have, to guard the honor of the king.

Now you'd say to me, well listen, if it was guarding Saul, what honor did he have? Well, he's the Lord's anointed. David understood that, but Abner didn't, okay? And it's interesting when you read that passage just to find out what is going on, and I'm referring to the second time when David is approaching Saul. The first time, of course, you remember he cuts off a piece of his garment, and David is in remorse and regrets that that has happened.

The second time I find even more interesting, and that is when there's finally a complete confession of Saul that he had sinned, okay? No crocodile tears now, I'm referring to, is it chapter 26? But in some measure of honesty. Now notice what Saul says. He doesn't say that son of Jesse.

That son of Jesse. He was the son of Jesse. Whatever his name is mentioned, it's usually the son of Jesse.

Jesse, I don't think, was much of a farmer. Don't think you brethren here would have teamed up with Jesse. I just have imagination of what that poor farm looked like.

But anyhow, nevertheless, he was a son of Jesse. But what does Saul say now? Is that the voice of David? My son. My son.

Oh, what a change. You didn't even want him as a son-in-law. Saul was changed.

The fact that he would come in to this cave, this remote place, and spare my life. Spare my life. He has to be my son.

But wait a minute, David's not done yet. When he goes in there, there's two things that are taken from Saul and his men as they're sleeping. Now, having said that, the Lord caused a great sleep to come upon him.

Okay? They will take the spear. David takes the spear and the crews of water. Goes over to the other side of the valley.

Now he starts to speak. But he's not so much calling out to Saul as he is to Abner. Because it says, Then said David unto Abner, Aren't thou a valiant man? What's happened? He's almost tongue-in-cheek away of mocking the man.

He says, Who is like unto thee in Israel? Abner was known for that. His ability to guard the king. But he's sleeping.

Come on, brethren and sisters. We've got a king whose honor is at stake. Don't go to sleep.

Guard it. Honor it with your life. And so he says, Art not thou a valiant man? And yet he says, Who is like unto thee in Israel? Wherefore then hast thou not kept thy lord the king? For there came some of thy people in to destroy the king thy lord.

David goes on. He's not done. He said, This thing is not good that thou hast done.

Verse number 16. As the Lord liveth, ye are worthy to die. Because ye have not kept your master, the Lord's anointed.

I somehow see Abner still rubbing his eyes. He doesn't know that the quiver's gone. Okay.

He doesn't know the water's gone. So David keeps talking. David goes on further.

And he says unto him about the crucible and the water. And I don't know if Saul knew it was gone. All of a sudden, they thought, Where is it? Where is the spear? Where is the crucible and the water? Two things were left that were lost that day.

The weapon and the water. The weapon would speak, I would like to think it would speak of the defense of the honor of the king. What's the Apostle say? The weapons of our warfare are not carnal.

Okay. But it was gone. It's gone to a lot of places today.

A little bit like the big dragon. We're in the kid's book. I think I remember read it to them.

Yeah. Harmless dragon it was. Big teeth but no bite.

That was it. So now here's Saul with all his vaunt, his strength and so on. But of all things, what he needed is gone.

Now he gets, he gets the spear back. Never gets the water back. Maybe you can give me some help on that.

I've looked at that. I asked my wife for some help. And I said, I don't know.

She gives me help now and then. I know what they did with the water. They drank it.

You say, well, how do you know they did that? Well, listen to what David's son will write later on. He learned from dad. Stolen waters are sweet and bread eaten in secret.

They stole the water. What did they steal? Refreshment. Refreshment.

You know, it is delightful to come among believers and fellow believers and enjoy refreshment. The ones that even came to visit him from Corinth. Nice to come among believers and be refreshed.

So now here's a man, Archibus. Let's go back to Archibus now. He has left Colossae, left meeting in dad's house.

He's gone to bigger and a better place, Laodicea. What was Laodicea known for? It's lack of freshness. Neither hot nor cold.

Therefore, I will spew thee out of my mouth. No freshness. Now I'm here in Cedar Falls, Waterloo, Stout Area, Hampton, different ones around.

Let me ask you, is there freshness in that testimony? Is there freshness? Or is it stale? Have you lost the water? He lost it. Very little to refresh yourself in the house of Saul. You need to go to David for that.

David was the man that enjoyed the refreshment. Remember, long for the waters from the wells of Bethlehem. And he got it.

Got what he wanted. What he wanted was refreshment. Saul had lost those things.

And it's very significant, of course, who's with him when he goes into that cave that day. A man by the name of Abishai. I really favor Abishai a little over Joab.

Because it's interesting when Abishai takes fight against the Edomites. And he slew them. And he won the victory.

He says, it's David's. The victory's David's. Saul never did that.

Saul sent the boy Jonathan out. Jonathan wins the battle and says, Saul, I won it. You like fun.

So there's a man that failed. Failed to defend the honor of the king. Now listen, Archippus, don't you fail.

The Apostle Paul says, don't you fail the ministry that has been given unto you. And that ministry to defend the honor of his name is given unto each and every one of us. So he says, speak unto this man, Archippus, that he neglect not the ministry that has been delivered unto him in the Lord.

So the servant, very quickly the servant. What about the servant? How does he fall down on the job? Well, any servant. I would resort to a passage I was reading here back not too long ago.

And the king came to that servant, remember in first Kings, and he said, where's the prisoner? Well, he said, thy servant was busy here and there. And you know, he was gone. Really? That's all you had to do was guard the prisoner? And you were busy here and there doing what? Isn't that quite often the language of the day is, well, you know, I'm busy.

Who's not busy? Who's not busy? Likely the older people amongst us today are the busiest people. Okay? I used to have dreams of what I would go into the work. I hardly believe I've been in it 40 years, and I'd have all this time to read my Bible and study.

I'd have all this time to do this and that. I've never been so short a time in my life. And I'm likely wearing as many time-saving devices as you are, if not more.

I've never had less of it, but I want to make the best of it. You know what I'd like to do, brethren? I'd like to get back to the truth of being a fellow soldier. Somebody that can stand up.

Somebody that can be counted on. Not somebody that's wobbly at the knees. Wasn't it Margaret Thatcher that fired off an email or whatever it was to President George H.W. Bush when the war began? And she said, George, no time to go wobbly.

Let me remind you, brother, no time to go wobbly. What's the Bible mean when it says, and having done all to stand, exactly what it says? Too many are going down. Too many are toppling.

Too many that you once knew and believed in and trusted, you can send them an email or a letter, and no response. Can't get back to you. Do you know why? They have no defense.

They have no defense. They have literally caved in to things that are dishonoring to the king. Things that would conflict with convictions, like this good man Archippus once had, should had.

And you know the best part about it? He could still recover and get it. He could still be that fellow soldier. Far be it that one of two fellow soldiers in the whole of our New Testament goes down.

I wouldn't be on this platform today. You wouldn't be here in the audience. There would not be a testimony in Cedar Falls, Waterloo, or anywhere else.

If in our past there were not true fellow soldiers. Epaphroditus. Archippus.

Wouldn't be testimonies either if there wasn't the fellow servants. Timotheus and Philemon. Sweet characters.

Read about them. Something you read Philemon's epistle and just how he handles things and the Apostle writes with such confidence to him and he tells him, look he says, I know what you're gonna do. I have no doubt about it.

I have full confidence in your ministry and what you will do. And it's just Timotheus. What a beautiful example of one who was a fellow servant.

Notice, not out on his own, not cut in his own path, but a fellow servant and a fellow soldier. The field is open brother and his sisters, young and old. Go in for it.

It pays big dividends. It has a great reward.