“So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything.” Ephesians 6:21 ESV
Reflection: what does it take for you to trust someone?
It is not a huge surprise to find out that someone who doesn’t really like you, for whatever reason, has said something unflattering, even hurtful about you to others. But, if that happens from someone you thought you could trust, is a whole other story. What if you had shared a number of personal things with someone close to you, say, with a brother or sister in Christ, and you find out later they have been talking about you with others? About some of the personal information. You would start wondering what exactly they shared, as it could be damaging to you. And secondly, you would be much more guarded about what you would tell them in the future. In a way, they squandered this opportunity to speak on your behalf, to represent you.
Trust is a delicate thing. It takes a lot to earn, but can so very easily be destroyed.
To represent someone, to speak about them on their behalf who we know a lot about, requires a lot of trust. That the information we sit with is used in an appropriate way. Not to damage, but to build up. We have to do this in business all the time, and, in our personal relationships. In the end of this beautiful letter to the early Christians in Ephesus, Paul commits to send a brother in Christ to them. He says “So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts.” Ephesians 6:21-22 ESV. Image what level of trust Paul must have had in this Tychicus! Not only has he instructed him to “share everything”, but notice also to “encourage” them. Paul knew that Tychicus would only use what intimate information he had to build up, not to tear down.
Bible commentator Ellicott wrote about him, “Tychicus is first mentioned with Trophimus in Acts 20:4, as being “of Asia,” and accompanying St. Paul on his last journey from Corinth to Asia, although he is not, like Trophimus, actually named as with the Apostle at Jerusalem. It is highly probable that he was one of the “messengers of the churches” spoken of in 2Corinthians 8:18-23, as sent to bear the alms to Jerusalem. We now find him again with St. Paul, and made by him the bearer of this Epistle and the Epistle to the Colossians. Lastly, he is alluded to as still his companion in the interval between the first and second captivity (Titus 3:2), and in the second captivity is despatched once more to Ephesus (2Timothy 4:12). It is evident that he well deserved the title of a “faithful minister” to the Apostle; and we note (in 2Timothy 4:11-12) that the command to bring Mark, as being “profitable for ministration” is immediately connected with the remark, “Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus.”” Paul trusted him, because he earned this trust through his faithfulness.
So, question is, can others trust us to represent them?
Do we act and speak in a way that others gain trust with us, to build others up? Or do we tend to use what we know of others for our own benefit, to be “in the know”, sharing secrets? That would basically be gossiping, a tool of the enemy, which the Bible speaks strongly against. Let’s learn from this brother in Christ from long ago, so that others will say of us that we are a “beloved brother [sister] and faithful minister in the Lord”.
