FELLOWWORKERS OF PAUL
Col. 4:10-11“Aristarchus my fellowprisoner saluteth you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, (touching whom ye received commandments: if he come unto you, receive him;) And Jesus, which is called Justus, who are of the circumcision. These only are my fellowworkers unto the kingdom of God, which have been a comfort unto me.”
We are going to look at three of Paul’s helpers in the next three meditation. The helpers many times are not mentioned. They are just as important as anyone else because God uses us together. Paul makes sure that we understand this. Of course there are those who are not mentioned at all because it is not important that men recognize our service. What is important is that we understand that we are His servants and that He notices and will reward every believer at the Judgment Seat of Christ (1 Cor. 4:5).
ARISTARCUS, A MAN WITH A COMMITMENT
The first mention of him is found in Acts 19:29: “And the whole city was filled with confusion: and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theatre.” Aristarcus was “caught” along with Gaius by the riotous mob. The word “caught” means to “seize by force.” He is also identified as being from Macedonia. He is mentioned next in Acts 20:4, along with others as Paul’s traveling companions, and no doubt fellow helpers in missions, as he went into Asia. His next mention is in Acts 27:2 where he continues with Paul by ship to Rome. He was caught in the storm with Paul (Euroclydon) where they almost lost their lives. He was there with Paul when He received revelation from the Lord that all personnel on the ship would be spared from physical death (Acts 27:21-25). He is also mentioned in Philemon 1:24 where he is called a fellow laborer.
One of the things that must be said about this man is that he was committed. When you traveled with Paul you could get into trouble and usually did. Service to the Lord in that day was costly. He was with Paul in Ephesus during the riot and was violently seized by the mob when Paul got away. I think he could have said, “Hey, I didn’t cause this riot. Paul is the one, and you let him get away!” He lived in a day when Christian’s counted it a blessing and honor to be persecuted for faith in Christ. We call this COMMITMENT. This is a word that is carelessly thrown around a lot today.
If a pastor requires his Sunday School teachers to be faithful to ALL the services, being in teachers meeting, and to visit in the outreach of the church, you often hear complaints. My friend, if one complains about faithfulness in these small matters, what in the world would he do if he were thrown in jail? We are living in an age where people say, “Lord, I’ll serve you if it doesn’t cost much.”
Aristarchus shows up on the ship with Paul in Acts 27. “Aristarchus,” I want to ask you a question. “You got into bad trouble in Ephesus when Paul preached against the goddess Diana and almost put her out of business, aren’t you a little afraid to travel with this man?” He says, “You don’t understand. I made a COMMITMENT to serve the Lord no matter what the cost. I have learned more traveling with Paul, seeing him work, hearing him preach, than any experience I have ever had in my life. Until he runs me off, I’m traveling with him.” And when you weren’t in jail, you did travel when you were with Paul. He was always reaching out to preach where Christ was not named (Rom. 15:20).
Paul warns them in Acts 27:10 that if they sail they will run into serious trouble at sea. But the owner and master of the ship had no confidence in Paul’s prophecy and sailed anyway. Aristarchus could have said, “Paul, I think I’ll get off here and strengthen the believers in this area and I will look you up in Rome later!” In other words, “Paul, I’ve been around you long enough to believe what you say when you’ve been talking to the Lord. I get sea sick easily.
