And say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it. Colossians 4:17
Hey Archie! Get off your duff and get to work! That seems to be the message that Paul is sending to one of the overseers in the Assembly at Colosse. All that we know about Archippus is what we can glean from this verse. We don’t know what he was doing – or not doing – before he received this message in Paul’s letter. We also don’t know how he took the admonition, although, given that it was delivered publicly, he probably had little option but to obey it. I can imagine approaching Archippus in Heaven and asking him about this verse, and hearing him respond with a sheepish grin that he had been getting slack in his service and needed a good shaking at that time. As we look at this text, let us ask three questions about Archippus: What had he received? Who had he received it from? And why had he received it?
What Archippus had received, of course, was a ministry. Most Bible scholars speculate that he was an elder in Colosse. As such, he would be responsible, along with other responsible brethren, for the care of the Lord’s people there. He would be teaching the apostle’s doctrine, exorting the Christians to godly living and spiritual growth, and bearing the saints before the Lord in intercessory prayer. He would also be responsible for preaching the Gospel and making sure that others who preached it did so effectively and wisely. In the absence of the Assembly’s founder Epaphras, Archippus had a big responsibility to use the ministry that he had received.
It was all the more important because of the One from Whom he had received the ministry: the Lord. Archippus was not like those who are are ordained by men in today’s denominationalism, who have a job to do and a career to pursue with no responsibility to anyone but a board of directors or a deacons’ committee. No, Archippus had received his ministry from the Lord and it was to the Lord he was responsible, and from the Lord he would receive his reward, as we read in 1 Peter 5:1-4: The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
Why had Archippus received this ministry? That he might fulfil it! Every one of us receives from the Lord a means whereby we are to serve him. Some do so in public says, others not so public. Some do so in full-time service, others as part of lives given to other service. But God never gives us a ministry without giving us the ability to perform it. God is not so much interested in how well we perform our service to him as He is in our willingness to perform it. And, of course, He takes the responsibility for the outcome. All He asks of us is to take heed that we fulfil the ministry.
Would it take a public rebuke to get us to shake off our idleness and get busy doing what our Lord has given us to do? -Jim MacIntosh