The Nuts and Bolts of the Kingdom Text: Colossians 4:15-17
Introduction: The Tangible Church
We often think of the Christian faith in high, abstract terms. We speak of soteriology, eschatology, and Christology, and rightly so. The apostle Paul has just spent the better part of this letter scaling the highest peaks of theology, declaring the absolute cosmic supremacy of Jesus Christ, in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. But like a master architect who can design a cathedral and also specify the right kind of nail to use, Paul concludes his letter not with a final theological flourish, but with the nuts and bolts of everyday Christian life. He gets down to the granular, the personal, the practical.
This is where the rubber of our high theology meets the road of our daily lives. If your doctrine of Christ's supremacy does not result in a tangible love for the brothers, a commitment to the local church, a submission to apostolic authority, and a diligence in your personal ministry, then your doctrine is nothing more than a clanging gong. Our generation loves the idea of a disembodied, spiritual "relationship with Jesus" that makes no demands on our time, our homes, or our wallets. But the apostolic faith is inescapably earthy. It involves real people, in real houses, reading real letters, and doing real work.
In these closing verses, Paul is not just tidying up his correspondence. He is showing us what a healthy network of churches looks like. It is a community of saints who are interconnected, mutually responsible, and personally accountable. We see greetings passed between cities, letters circulated between congregations, and a direct, public charge given to an individual minister. This is not a top-down corporate structure; it is a living, breathing organism. And it is in these seemingly mundane details that we see the glory of Christ being worked out in the real world.
The Text
Greet the brothers who are in Laodicea and also Nympha and the church that is in her house. And when this letter is read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and you, for your part read my letter that is coming from Laodicea. And say to Archippus, “Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it.”
(Colossians 4:15-17 LSB)
The Domestic Outpost (v. 15)
We begin with the greetings, which are far more than mere pleasantries.
"Greet the brothers who are in Laodicea and also Nympha and the church that is in her house." (Colossians 4:15)
First, notice the regional awareness. The church at Colossae was not an island. They were part of a network of churches in the Lycus Valley, including Laodicea and Hierapolis. Paul expects them to be in fellowship, to know each other, to care about each other. The Christian faith is not a private affair; it is corporate and connective. We are not saved into isolation but into a family, a kingdom of priests.
Then Paul singles out two entities for a special greeting: Nympha, and the church that meets in her house. In the first century, before Constantine, there were no church buildings. The church was a network of households. The home was the primary locus of worship, fellowship, and ministry. This was not a bug, but a feature. It meant that Christianity was woven into the fabric of daily life. Your faith was not something you did for an hour on Sunday; it was the atmosphere you breathed in the place where you ate, slept, and raised your children.
And at the center of this particular outpost is Nympha. The moderns, in their obsession with egalitarianism, immediately want to make this a debate about female pastors. But that is to read our own hang-ups back into the text and miss the point entirely. The point is not about formal office, but about faithful hospitality. Nympha was clearly a woman of some means and significant stature. She had a home large enough to host the congregation. She was a pillar, a patron, a stalwart saint whose home was a beachhead for the gospel in Laodicea. She was exercising her gifts in a way that was foundational to the life of the church. The church is built on the backs of saints like this, men and women who open their homes and their lives for the sake of the kingdom. Your home is not a castle for you to retreat into; it is an embassy of the kingdom of heaven.
The Circulating Word (v. 16)
Next, Paul gives instructions for what to do with this letter, and it reveals the authoritative nature of his writing.
"And when this letter is read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and you, for your part read my letter that is coming from Laodicea." (Colossians 4:16 LSB)
This is a crucial verse for understanding the formation of the New Testament canon. Paul's letters were not private correspondence. They were public documents, intended to be read aloud in the gathered assembly of the saints. And they were not just for the initial recipients. He explicitly commands that this letter be circulated. This tells us that Paul understood his own writings to be invested with apostolic authority for the whole church. Peter would later refer to Paul's letters as "Scripture" (2 Peter 3:16). Here we see that process in motion. These letters were the very Word of God, and they were to be shared, copied, and read universally.
Then we have the intriguing mention of "my letter that is coming from Laodicea." What is this letter? Scholars have debated this for centuries. Some think it is a letter that is now lost to us. Others suggest it might be our canonical letter to the Ephesians, which may have been a circular letter that passed through Laodicea on its way to Colossae. We cannot be dogmatic here. But the mystery of the letter's identity is not the main point. The point is the principle: the churches were to be nourished by a steady diet of apostolic teaching. They were to read all of it. This is a rebuke to our modern pick-and-choose approach to the Bible, where we camp out in our favorite passages and ignore the rest. The whole counsel of God is for the whole people of God.
The Public Charge (v. 17)
Finally, Paul concludes with a sharp, personal, and public exhortation to one of the ministers.
"And say to Archippus, 'Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it.'" (Colossians 4:17 LSB)
This is a striking command. Paul does not write a private note to Archippus. He tells the entire Colossian church to deliver the message to him. "And say to Archippus..." This is public accountability. Archippus, who is also mentioned in the letter to Philemon as a "fellow soldier," was a minister among them. And apparently, he needed a prodding. Perhaps he was discouraged. Perhaps he was distracted. Perhaps he was growing weary in the work. We are not told the reason, but we are shown the remedy.
The remedy is a corporate exhortation. The whole church is to come alongside their minister and say, "Brother, pay attention. Be diligent. Finish the race." This is how the church is supposed to function. We are to encourage one another, and when necessary, we are to admonish one another. Ministry is not a solo performance; it is a task undertaken in the midst of the body, with the support and accountability of that body.
Notice the content of the charge. First, "Take heed to the ministry." The word for ministry is diakonia, service. It is a specific task. It is not a vague feeling of goodwill. Second, it is a ministry "which you have received in the Lord." Your calling is not your own invention. It is a stewardship, a sacred trust, given to you by Christ Himself. You did not apply for the job; you were conscripted. This is true for the pastor in the pulpit and for every Christian in his or her respective calling. Third, the goal is "that you may fulfill it." The Lord does not just call us to start things. He calls us to finish them. This is a call to perseverance, to faithfulness to the end, to run in such a way as to obtain the prize.
Conclusion: Your Diakonia
These three verses, tucked away at the end of a profound theological epistle, provide a blueprint for a healthy, functioning church. It is a church rooted in hospitality, nourished by the Word of God, and characterized by mutual accountability.
So the application comes to us in three parts. First, are you a Nympha? Is your home an outpost for the kingdom? Is it a place of welcome, of fellowship, of gospel industry? Or is it a sterile museum of your own comforts? God has given you your home not as a retreat from the world, but as a base of operations from which to engage the world.
Second, are you devoted to the circulating Word? Do you read it all? Do you submit to its authority in every area of your life? Do you love the public reading of Scripture? Or do you treat the Bible like a buffet, taking only what you find palatable? We must be a people of the whole book, because it is the whole book that makes us whole.
And last, what is your ministry? What is the diakonia that you have received in the Lord? It may be raising children, or running a business, or teaching a class, or caring for an aging parent. Whatever it is, God is speaking to you this morning, through the church, just as He spoke to Archippus. "Take heed to your ministry. Pay attention. Do not be distracted. Do not grow weary. Fulfill it." For it is in the faithful completion of these mundane, God-given tasks that we honor our cosmic King, the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be all the glory.