Prayer: Lord we come before you in prayer as we seek to learn from your word. I pray that your Holy Spirit will lead and guide us, teach us, and renew us. Amen.
I began this series on Paul’s letter to the Colossians regretting the lack of personal letters we receive in this technological day and age. I wonder if reading Paul’s letter has encouraged any of you to put pen to paper to send an actual letter to someone. Or perhaps even write an encouraging email, telling them how thankful you are for them and that you are praying for them.
Paul began his letter, identifying himself and Timothy as writers. Timothy was possibly his scribe, but at the end of the letter Paul signs off in his own handwriting. He personalizes the letter. And with all the mention of names with greetings and instructions he links their lives together, the body of Christ, one family with one purpose, building one another up, encouraging one another in prayer, growing in the fullness of Christ and sharing the gospel message.
Paul opened his letter encouraging the Colossians in their faith and saying how much he gave thanks for them, and how he constantly prayed for them. Now Paul, the great Apostle, at the end of his letter, commends the Colossians to devote themselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
What does it mean to devote yourself to something…it means to give your time, energy, and attention to it. Do we do this with our prayer? Or do we just give it 5 minutes in the morning or evening and tick it off the list of things to do?! Paul encourages us to devote ourselves to prayer, to be watchful, or alert and thankful. As we spend time with God, we can be alert to what he may be saying to us. When we pray it should not be just one sided, but we should wait, watch, and listen to what God may be saying to us, and be alert and make sure we don’t listen to other false voices. And always be thankful, thankful for all God’s blessings, thankful that the God of creation chooses to have a relationship with us!
Paul then asks the Colossians to pray for him!
We all need prayer. Paul, often referred to as the ‘super apostle’, who has faced and conquered so much, does not put himself on a different level, he desires them to join in his work by praying for him.
I feel so encouraged when people are praying for me. We pray for our Bishops; we pray for our missionaries. We can’t all be Bishops or preachers or missionaries, but we can all pray. I know my mum got frustrated when she got older, unable to do the all the things in the church that she had done, so I always encouraged her in the importance of prayer. The Church needs people devoted to prayer.
What does Paul ask prayer for? Sometimes it is helpful to have specific things to pray for. He is in prison, but he does not ask them to pray that the door is opened for him to be released, no, he asks them to pray that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains”.
God had called Paul to be an evangelist and preacher, spreading the good news of ‘the mystery’ of Jesus Christ. To tell others of God’s love for them especially through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. He is in prison for precisely doing this! But that doesn’t stop him from his desire to continue to fulfil his vocation. He prays that the doors of opportunity to share the message will be open. We can imagine him talking to the prison guards, fellow prisoners, people who come to visit and so on.
Prison is often a place where people may be open to hearing the good news of a God who loves and forgives and offers new life. The Alpha course is run in many prisons and there are amazing testimonies of people coming to new life in the Christian faith. I may have shared with you the story of the 75-year-old woman from North Korea who was interviewed at the Alpha conference I attended in London earlier this year. She was imprisoned for trying to flee the country, and if she was discovered to be a Christian, she would have faced a death sentence. But while in prison she felt God telling her to share her faith with other women.
This woman obviously devoted herself to prayer and was watchful and alert to listen and respond to God in obedience. God opened the door of opportunity for her to share the message in the smelly toilets! This was the safest place for her to do so!
Let us continue to pray for God to open the doors for our missionaries and evangelists and preachers around the world to share the good news. Especially in those places where the doors are often closed, and Christians are persecuted.
While Paul asks the Colossians to pray that he would proclaim the message clearly, he also says that they too should be making the most of every opportunity.
They and we may not all be preachers and evangelists, but we are all called to share the gospel when the opportunity arises.
In verse 5 & 6 Paul says, ‘Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.’
I used these verses from chapter 4 last month as we finished our series on sharing our faith. We practiced and heard some wonderful testimonies during that series. How have you been going since then, have you been praying and seeking opportunities to share your faith? Have you been thinking how you would answer someone if they asked you about your faith, or why you go to church? Have you been mindful of your behaviour as your life is to be lived as an ambassador of Christ?
Last week in chapter 3, we heard Paul exhorting the Colossians (and us) to be aware of our how we behave, our lives themselves are a witness to Christ, or so they should be if we are living with his fullness in us! So, no rage, lying, slander, filthy language and so on. Rather in our clothes of compassion and patience and love, our conversation should always be filled with grace. And seasoned with salt.
If we are going to talk about our faith, then it should be interesting, flavoursome, attractive. There are many searching for the meaning of life. We believe Jesus is the answer, let’s be prepared to show that in our lives and in how we talk, sharing how our faith in Jesus enriches our lives. I encourage you to keep preparing your testimony and answers on the Christian faith.
Finally, Paul finishes his letter rich in personal messages and greetings. I think only his letter to the Romans rivals all the names mentioned here.
Paul continues to build personal and growing relationships with churches he or others have planted. He wants to strengthen ties with them, so they won’t be pulled away from the faith. He mentions people that they have in common. People that we have perhaps heard about in other letters or in Acts. This really verifies the authenticity of Paul’s letters.
He speaks warmly of Tychicus and Onesimus who will tell the Colossians all about Paul and his circumstances. He had heard everything about them from Epaphras, he now wants them to know about him, so they can pray intentionally for him, and grow a mutual relationship of love and trust.
We read of Onesimus’ story in Paul’s letter to Philemon. Onesimus was a runaway slave, but after meeting with Paul he is returning to his master, to work for God’s glory. You might like to go home and read this short letter. Paul calls Onesimus his son, he is obviously very fond of him. Paul writes to Philemon asking him to welcome and receive Onesimus back with forgiveness and grace, seeing him as an equal brother in Christ.
Paul then mentions Aristarchus who is in prison with him, and greetings from Mark, Barnabas’ cousin, and Jesus, called Justus. We read about Mark in Acts 15: 36-40, this is where Barnabas and Paul fall out for a little while. In fact, they had a sharp disagreement and went their separate ways. Barnabas wanted to take Mark with them on their journey, but Paul was not convinced as Mark had apparently deserted them in Pamphylia, so Paul went in a different direction with Silas instead.
But now it appears that there has been a healing of this relationship and Paul tells the Colossians to welcome Mark. I’m sure Paul had been praying for him to mature in his faith and Paul himself also had come to forgive him and he was part of his family there in Rome. It’s passages like these that show us the humanity of Paul, he got angry too, especially in his earlier days of being a Christ follower, but we see how he and Mark have grown, and so can we as we mature in our faith. It is a concrete example of seeing love and forgiveness at work.
Paul mentions that these men are the only Jews who are his co-workers and comfort for him. Paul had a special ministry to the Gentiles, but being a Jew himself he always went to the synagogue first to share the message of Christ. However, he was often not well received, rather he would be beaten and run out of town. So, to have some fellow Jews who believed and had faith in Jesus was a real comfort for him.
In the beginning of the letter, Paul vouched for Epaphras who was most likely the one who shared the good news message with them and was the church planter in Colossae. Paul again speaks highly of Epaphras at the end of his letter that they may have faith in him and what he taught. He says how hard Epaphras is wrestling in prayer for them and the church at Hierapolis and Laodicea. Paul says he is working hard for them. He is a long way from them, but he is hard at prayer, and, he had travelled to share his concerns with Paul so that he would write and encourage them.
We read that Dr Luke is with Paul, he is the writer of the gospel of his name, Luke, and of Acts. Paul then asks the Colossians to give his greetings to the brothers and sisters at Laodicea and to Nympha and the church in her house. It is the inclusion of such messages that broaden our view of the early church and issues around Paul’s view on such things as women being involved in ministry! Here we clearly read that Nympha is the host (and maybe the leader) of a house church, which is how the body of Christ met in the early days.
Before Paul signs off there is another personal message for Archippus: “See to it that you complete the ministry you have received in the Lord.” That also can be a message to us all. To complete the ministry that the Lord has given us! To exercise the gifts God has given us, to follow Jesus’ command to go and make disciples, to love him and to love our neighbours. To persevere to the end.
As I said earlier, Paul personally signs this letter in his own hand, and he asks them to remember him in his chains.
We no longer need to remember Paul in his chains, he was released from those physical chains around 2000 years ago to go and live for eternity with his Lord that he served so faithfully. For him, far more important had been the release of his chains to sin and death through his encounter with Jesus.
What do we need to remember then as we conclude our sermon series in this letter to the Colossians?
I want you to take a moment, reach for a bible if you can and have a quick look back over the 4 chapters. Make a note of what it is you need to apply in response to Paul’s letter…
Let us pray: Father God, thank you for Paul’s letters that are still relevant for us today. Help us to take his message to heart. May we devote ourselves to prayer in all that we do. As Paul prayed, may we grow daily in knowledge of you, rooted and built up in faith, being filled with your very self. Help us to listen and put our faith in you alone, not being distracted by false teachers and ideas. May we die to ourselves, being buried with, and rising to new life in Christ. From a post communion prayer; may we who share Christ’s body live his risen life; we who drink his cup bring life to others; we whom the Spirit lights give light to the world.
May God’s grace and peace rule in our hearts, and may we be thankful. In the wonderful name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.