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A Different Picture of Success

                Churches like things they can count:  attendance, baptisms, money.  While those numbers may give some indication of how we are doing, let me offer you another way to measure spiritual health and success.  In Colossians 4:7, Paul describes his friend Tychicus by saying that he is, “A dear brother, a faithful minister and a fellow servant”.
                Tychicus was not Paul’s blood brother, but he was a brother none-the-less.  Relationships like that should be a mark of the church.  They are valuable because they allow us to practice our new life together.  When the early church is described, we find that the believers ate together, encouraged and taught one another, shared what they had, looked after each other and added in any who wanted to join them (Acts 2 and 4).  A successful church fosters deep relationships.
                Note too that Tychicus was faithful.  In some circles, faithful has become code for “teaching things that I agree with” or “shows up for church”.  However, faithful is a much bigger word.  Faithfulness involves every aspect of life.  In other words, if you do all the right things on Sunday morning, but you are a jerk on Thursday afternoon, you are not a faithful person regardless of what your worship is like.   Jesus said, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much” (Luke 16:10).  Did you get that?  Faithfulness is determined by how one handles the seemingly unimportant things of life.  The little things tell the truth and show what sort of person you are.  Tychicus was praised because his faith changed everything about him and made him better.
                Lastly, Tychicus was a servant.  These days, people want to be important, have an impact, or do something big and spectacular.  However, the biggest impact that you can have on the life of another person is to serve them.  Remember, even Jesus, “Did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). 
                Gauging success in God’s kingdom is difficult if numbers are our only measurement.  How many baptisms are enough?  How big does a church need to be? 
                Maybe if, by God’s grace and power, we focused on the more Biblical aspects of a successful Christian life, we would find that the numbers would take care of themselves.

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