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. Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible. (Ephesians 6:21-24)
Tychicus
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. (Ephesians 6:21-22)
Paul wanted the Ephesians to pray more effectively for him and his preaching ministry (Ephesians 6:18-20). Here, he concludes his letter by telling them Tychicus is coming. Tychicus would report to the Ephesians about Paul's imprisonment, which would help them pray more intelligently.
Tychicus was a good man, one of Paul’s companions in Acts (Acts 20:4). He traveled widely for Paul. He delivered the letter to the Colossians and Philemon (Colossians 4:7), visited Titus on Crete (Titus 3:12), and now, went to Ephesus to deliver this current letter. He was not Paul, but Paul would not have been nearly as effective without Tychicus. He served Paul, a demonstration of Paul’s concept of the church as the body of Christ. Every person has their role to play in that body, and Tychicus played his well.
Who are you in this glorious body of Christ? Jesus is at the head; Ephesians has taught us as much. He has given to the church mouthpieces to communicate his will to the body — apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers. Within the body are hands and feet and eyes and ears. Who are you?
The Christian life is a journey of experiences which help us discover our part, and we must engage in it. Tychicus was willing to do the inglorious, an admirable trait. He didn't need the public eye. He didn't have to lead a well-known ministry.
We want to make a great impact, but Christ’s way is often slow and small. He wants everyone to make disciples, which happens a person at a time. Slowly, steadily, we are to pour into real human beings.
Your work for Christ might seem small, your sphere of influence might be little, but, for those you serve, it is significant. The more do the "small" and "simple" for Christ the more impactful the body of Christ will be. We do not all need a large and visible ministry, for more work gets done in the trenches than from the platform. The pulpit and the coffee shop go together. Tychicus knew this, so he complimented Paul well.
Conclusion
Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible. (Ephesians 6:23-24)
The letter concludes, of course, with grace and peace, just as it had begun. You might recall how I began this series on Ephesians. I told you of the song of Moses, a beautiful song designed to help Israel enter into the promised land without Moses, for he could not go. In his song, Moses told them of who God is, what God had done for them, and who they now were in God. God was their Father, for he had delivered them from slavery in Egypt, and now they were his children. This knowledge was to serve as an identity for their future life in the Promised Land. Each step of the way they were to remember: God is our Father, he has redeemed us, and we are his children.
May Ephesians be our song of Moses, reminding us of who God is, what He has done, and who we are in him. He is a blessing God, the One who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3). He has redeemed us, for we were once lost and in darkness, deeply divided from God. His cross, by simple faith, has made a way for our salvation (Ephesians 2:1-10). We are now His children, desiring to live out the life he has for us, walking worthy of the calling with which we have been called (Ephesians 4:1+). As we enter into the Promised Land life of Ephesians 4-6, let us remember the beautiful song of Ephesians 1-3. Let us recall God and his marvelous grace. Recall how he has redeemed you.
Israel could look back to the plagues and the wilderness miracles and the giving of the law and the work of Moses. However, we can look to the incarnation of Jesus, the life and ministry and teaching of Jesus, and his subsequent death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. We are a loved people, a people for whom God paid a great price. Let us know move and live and act like the people we are, a people blessed by a blessing God. Let us respond to Christ, the church's glorious and lovely leader.
