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Welcome to Day 4 of our Look Through Colossians, Chapter 4 in Daily Drive Time
Devotions. We're going to look at some more qualities of real fellowship today.
We're just looking through these people that Paul mentions at the end of
Colossians 4 and seeing in each of their lives a lesson that you and I can learn
about what real fellowship is all about.

Yesterday we talked about the fact that fellowship is a relationship. We learned
that from Tychicus. We were reminded that fellowship is all-inclusive in the
life of Onesimus.

Fellowship is enduring in Aristarchus. And today, in John Mark, we learned that
fellowship is forgiving. The last part of verse 10, Paul mentions John Mark, he
says, "As does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas.

You've received instructions about him. If he comes to you, welcome him. " John
Mark.

That's an amazing expression of fellowship here as Paul talks about him. You
might remember the story of John Mark from the book of Acts. John Mark had been
a reason for an argument between Paul and Barnabas.

On their second missionary journey, Paul didn't want to take John Mark along
with them because John Mark hadn't stayed for the whole journey on the first
time they'd gone. Barnabas said, "No, he's okay. Let's take him along.

" Here we learned that he was his cousin, so there's a family relationship going
on there too. And it became so in disagreement about this that Paul and Barnabas
went on separate missionary trips instead of staying together. There was a time
in Paul's life when he thought John Mark is not worth taking along with us.

But now, here, in verse 10, you've got Paul saying, "You've received
instructions about him. Welcome him if he comes to you. " And you have Paul
affirming the ministry of John Mark.

It's an amazing thing that fellowship is forgiving. There may be people who have
hurt you in church, people who have disappointed you. There may be people who
have let you down.

What do you do? Do you hold on to that the rest of your life? I will never trust
them again.

If you do, you're going to miss out on one of the greatest blessings of life.
Because this story of John Mark doesn't end here. Remember that John Mark also
had a relationship with the Apostle Peter.

And as Peter talked to John Mark about the good news of Christ and what God had
done how he'd experienced Jesus, John Mark began to write down what Peter was
telling him. And eventually, he wrote it down to an extent that he was able to
send it to all the churches. And we realize today that what he wrote down was
inspired by the Holy Spirit because we call it the Gospel of Mark.

John Mark, who was at one time rejected by Paul as someone who wasn't fit to go
on a missionary journey, was accepted here by Paul and was certainly accepted by
the Lord Jesus Christ because he was chosen by Jesus to pen one of the four
Gospels. This is an encouragement to anyone who has failed at a first attempt,
by the way. If you feel like I've tried in ministry but I've failed, Paul would
be able to attest to the fact that John Mark tried in ministry and failed.

But that didn't mean that his ministry life was over. Mark goes from rejected
companion to Gospel writer. And that reminds me not only of something for my own
life, but that I also need to give a second chance to people.

Fellowship is forgiving because God has not finished working in their life. A
fifth sign, fifth teaching, a fifth truth about real fellowship is found in
Jesus. Now not the Jesus you're thinking of, a different Jesus.

Jesus teaches us that fellowship is comforting. Verse 11, Paul says this,
"Jesus, who is called justice, also sends greetings. These are the only Jews
among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God," those that he's just listed,
including Jesus.

And they've proved a comfort to me. Now what is this about Jesus? Isn't there
only one Jesus?

No, in Jesus' day there were many, many, many Jesuses. It was one of the most
common names. In fact, that's why this Jesus calls himself justice.

He's changed his Hebrew name because by this time when people said Jesus, they
wanted to think of the Lord Jesus. But Jesus was a very common name, a very
common Hebrew name. And Paul here says, "I have been comforted by him as these
others because they are fellow Jews among my fellow workers for the kingdom of
God.

" He was comforted by his fellow countrymen, by these men and women with a
common background who had an understanding of Paul and who also brought Paul a
deep joy because he had this desire at the very deepest level of his life to see
his own people, the Jewish people brought into the kingdom of God, to see them
saved. And here they are serving alongside of him. He says, "I'm comforted by
these people.

" That's a deep teaching to me about fellowship. Fellowship means I love
everyone, but is it okay to have some who are especially close even though I
love everyone? Well, of course it is.

Jesus did. Jesus had Peter, James, and John who were especially close to him.
There were things that he did with them that he didn't do with the other 12
disciples.

And here Paul says, "These are my fellow workers, my fellow countrymen, and they
proved to be a special comfort to me. " So you love everyone, but it's okay to
have deeper relationships with some, some who are a special comfort to you, an
encouragement to you. There's a sixth teaching about fellowship in the life of a
guy by the name of Epaphras.

He teaches us that fellowship means sacrifice. Verses 12 and 13, "Epaphras, who
is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He's always
wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God,
mature and fully assured.

I vouch for him that he is working hard for you and for those who are at
Laodicea in Heropolis. " Epaphras models for us what true sacrifice means. He's
evidently someone who came out of the Colossian church.

He's come to serve Paul while he's in prison. And Paul is sending back greetings
from Epaphras and in sending back those greetings, he's talking about how he is,
he's not only a servant, but he's a sacrificial servant. What does it mean to be
a sacrificial servant?

Sacrificial service means wrestling in prayer. He says Epaphras is wrestling in
prayer for you. If you've ever seen a wrestling match, you know that wrestling
is more than just effort.

It's making the right moves. And prayer is more than just human effort, it's
making the right moves. What are the right moves in prayer?

Well, here's what Epaphras did. He says he is agonizing in prayer for you, that
you may stand firm in all the will of God. The idea of wrestling is the idea of
agonizing, a deep heartfelt concern for others.

I don't know about you, but the only way for me to get there is to live there
for a while. I can't have this deep heartfelt concern for someone else in the
first prayer that I usually pray for them. It usually comes in the 10th or the
15th or the 20th prayer.

It's wrestling in prayer, it's staying in the match, it's staying in the ring in
prayer. And Epaphras did that. One of the ways that you can sacrificially serve
is to stay in, in prayer with someone.

Even when it seems like there's no hope. Even when it seems like they've lost
their faith. Even when it seems like they're never going to serve again.

Even when it seems like you still keep praying for them. What does it mean to
wrestle in prayer? There's this idea of agonizing in prayer, of staying in the
match.

But there's also this idea of centering on God's will. He's wrestling that you
may stand firm in all the will of God. What's the best thing that you can pray
for another believer in Jesus Christ?

It's right here. Pray that they would stand firm in all the will of God. Firm,
mature, and assured in all of God's will.

We can pray for each other that the circumstances of our life will turn out
well. We should pray for that. We should not forget to pray.

In fact, we should center our prayers on God's will in one another's lives. So
you pray for somebody in your family right now. Somebody that's a friend right
now.

A fellow believer. Lord, help this person, call them by name. Help them to stand
firm in your will today.

Help them to mature, to grow in your will today. Help them to become more fully
assured in your will today. As you pray for that person right now, you're in one
sense beginning a wrestling in prayer for them.

And that's one way that we sacrificially serve one another. Instead of thinking
about myself, I'm thinking about somebody else. I'm serving.

He did it. Apaphros served by wrestling and prayer. He also did it, Paul says,
by working hard for you.

Fellowship is hard work. If you take a look at a map, Apaphros traveled over
1,000 miles to meet with Paul, to serve Paul. And this wasn't a 1,000 mile trip
by jet.

This wasn't a 1,000 mile trip by car. This probably wasn't a 1,000 mile trip by
horseback or chariot. And Apaphros would have been traveling on foot, 1,000
miles.

Now he may have, part of that journey, had an easier time on some boat or some
chariot. But I like to realize that however he had to travel, it was hard work.
Let God challenge you right now.

Where am I working hard? Where am I really giving myself to serve Jesus Christ?
And if you don't have a place that you can do that, find a place.

Look for a place. Pray for a place. Find a prayer for a place.

Because part of sacrificially serving is working hard. The idea that I'm going
to sacrificially serve God, but it's never going to be hard work, it's pretty
easy to see how ridiculous that is. If you're afraid of working hard on your own
effort rather than God's effort, the way to make sure that you're working hard
based on God and your faith in him is to continually wrestle in prayer.

You start with prayer, and out of that prayer, you work hard. You do the work
that God's given to you. Now as we pray today, let's pray about these aspects of
fellowship.

And just say to God, "God, help me to be forgiving in fellowship. Forgiving of
myself first, and forgiving of others. Lord, help me to give people a second
chance, because I know that you do.

You are the God of the second chance. " God, thank you that fellowship is
comforting. Show me who I can comfort, and show me who I need to be comforted
and encouraged by in my life.

Help me not to try to live life alone, to live through the difficulties and the
lonely days alone. And Lord, I know that fellowship is also sacrifice. So help
me to see today where I can give myself to someone else, in some small way and
some great way, by wrestling in prayer for them, by working hard for them.

I ask this Lord in your name. Amen. Don't miss tomorrow.

We're not only ever going to look at five more qualities of real fellowship,
we're also going to be ending together this study in the book of Colossians.