Keep on keeping on!

Tell Archippus: See to it that you complete the ministry you have received in the Lord. Colossians 4:17

Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker - also to Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier - and to the church that meets in your home: grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Philemon 1-3

I wonder who Archippus was? He crops up in the New Testament just twice, in the verses above. He was clearly a member of the church in the town of Colosse, a church that met in the home of Philemon (remember, there were no such things as special church buildings in those early days). Could it be that Philemon and Apphia were husband and wife, and that Archippus was their son?

More to the point, I wonder why the apostle Paul, who wrote these two short letters, saw fit to send him a particular message: make sure you complete the ministry you have received in the Lord. Had Archippus proved unreliable? Did he have a reputation for starting things but failing to finish them? Or did Paul simply want to give him an encouraging little prod, perhaps because he was still young and short of confidence?

We don’t know. But Paul’s words remind us of a simple fact: it’s all very well to start out on an initiative or a venture, but what matters in the long run is to finish it.

I don’t know much about Sir Francis Drake (1540-1596) except that he was renowned as a sailor. I don’t know how deep or real his faith was (both piracy and slave-trading appear on his cv, which does make one wonder). But he is credited with a prayer in which we ask God to keep us going in any work we undertake for him, remembering that “it is not the beginning, but the continuing of the same, until it be thoroughly finished, that yieldeth the true glory”. I think Paul would have said a loud Amen to that.

I doubt if Paul did have any serious doubts about Archippus; he is happy to describe him as “our fellow-soldier”, after all. But I do wonder if, lurking in the depths of his mind, there might have been a memory of an unhappy event in his evangelistic work – what he saw as the desertion of young John Mark from his first missionary journey.

According to Acts 13, Paul and Barnabas were commissioned by the church in Antioch to head off to preach the gospel, and they took John Mark with them, presumably as a kind of apprentice. They sailed for the island of Cyprus, where their ministry was fruitful (Acts 13:1-12), but no sooner had they sailed on to mainland Europe than “John left them to return to Jerusalem” (Acts 13:13).

Luke, the writer of Acts, records that as a simple fact, with no criticism of John implied. But if you turn on to Acts15:36-41, it is clear that in fact Paul felt seriously angry about John Mark – “because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work” - so much so that it caused a rift with his friend and colleague Barnabas.

From all we know of Paul, he had the very highest standards of commitment for himself, and presumably expected the same from those he worked with. So I can’t help wondering if perhaps he had heard a rumour about Archippus losing a bit of his initial enthusiasm for the ministry he had been given, and - still feeling sore about the John Mark episode - decided to add this little message to try and ensure there would be no repetition with Archippus.

Well, whether that’s right or not, the question for us stands out clearly: am I a determined finisher as well as an enthusiastic starter?

There’s a New Testament word that doesn’t sound very exciting, and which perhaps we tend to gloss over; but it’s quite common, some twenty-five occurrences, and in fact very important. Depending on which  translation you’re using, it’s endurance or perseverance. (My own preferred translation is stickability – though I’m not sure you’ll find that in the dictionary.)

The Bible makes clear that the Christian life is a marathon rather than a sprint (the word occurs in the famous “run the race” passage, Hebrews 12:1-3). And what is true of the Christian life as a whole is particularly true of the various “ministries” to which we are all called.

All this is worth thinking about. But we need to add one other vital thing in case of misunderstanding: it doesn’t mean there is never a time to lay down a responsibility.

Paul urges Archippus to “complete the ministry he has received”. That’s fine. But… how do you know when that time of “completion” has come? It doesn’t necessarily mean death! The faithful children’s worker of twenty years’ standing, for example, may reach a point in their middle years where they are called to pass on the responsibility to others. (A retired pastor once took me aside and asked me to let him know if and when I felt it would be better for him to step down from preaching engagements. He was a wise and humble man.)

We can only make the right decisions by seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

But it’s a moot point which is worse: to give up while you still have a God-given job to do? or to keep stubbornly plugging away long after God has called you to move on to something else?

Lord, help me to get it right! Amen.