It is not about believing in someone else; It is about becoming someone else
Pauls sends two messengers to the church at Colossae that each have their own powerful testimony about becoming someone else... a new identity in Christ.
1) Tychicus: No Longer Insignificant
7 Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord.
a) A Favored Brother
b) A Faithful Messenger
c) A Fellow Servant
Christ Is Our Message!
What would your kids say about the way you carry the message in your home?
What would your coworkers say about the way you carry the message in your workplace?
What would your followers say about the way you carry the message online?
Significance in the Kingdom isn’t measured by how well I am known, but by how well I serve
2) Onesimus: No Longer A Slave
9 and with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you of everything that has taken place here.
Welcome Onesimus back not as his former identity, but as his reformed identity
Phm 8 Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, 9 yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you—I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus— 10 I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. 11 (Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.) 12 I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. 13 I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel, 14 but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own accord. 15 For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, 16 no longer as a bondservant but more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother—especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
17 So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me. 18 If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. 19 I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it—to say nothing of your owing me even your own self. 20 Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ.
Paul appeals to two kingdom concepts and sets an example for the New Testament church
a) Our Relationship in Christ
17 So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me.
b) Our Reconciliation in Christ
18 If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account.
3) John Mark: No Longer Castaway
10 Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, and Mark the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you have received instructions—if he comes to you, welcome him),
God never consults your past to create your future
Conclusion
The mystery of the Gospel is not simply believing in Someone else (Christ); but about becoming Someone else (like Christ)
I was _______; Jesus Is ______; I am _________
We share a partnership in carrying that message
We share a responsibility in helping others discover that message