Colossian series - Totally Devote to the Lord of the Church

                             Totally Devoted to the Lord of the Church

Col.4:2-6

There are times in your life that you know God is directing your life in the work of the church. When God begins your journey, the new life, it is immersed in prayer. I can remember wanting to talk with God as much as possible, all day, everyday. It was in these times God would guide me in His Word, and by the Holy Spirit in times of cleansing, gaining wisdom and understanding, and submitting to His call, the work He wanted me to do.

 In the closing instructions of the letter to the Colossians, Paul gives the Colossian Church the reminder of the work of Christ to be done for the gospel.

First, Paul reiterates the importance of prayer. In every work of God, it begins with prayer. God initiated, and believers yielded, and the world receptive. All of these are literally the ingredients of God working through prayer. It begins with God’s will and direction. Paul is directing the church in devoting themselves in listening, talking, and submitting to God. Paul understood the directing of God, the Holy Spirit in prayer. The Holy Spirit led and directed Paul’s steps in the missionary journeys. They were immersed in prayer, the type of prayer he desired in the church in Colossae, to devote themselves to prayer, in understanding God’s purpose and will. Heartfelt and yielded “Devote yourselves to prayer…”

Second, Paul knew the voice of the Holy Spirit, leading through the path of taking the gospel to the world. He knew “... being watchful and thankful” were ingrained in a life devoted to prayer. In being watchful, the believers would see the hand of God working miracles, in warning them of the enemy’s scheme, in intercession for other churches and believers in Asia Minor. Many of the teachings of Paul by the Holy Spirit were directed towards intercession for the churches throughout his mission trips. 

Third, in teaching the church to intercede, he used the work and workers for God as examples and directives in prayer. “Pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.”  Paul wanted the church to understand that intercessory prayer was directed towards those who were given the work of taking the gospel message into the world. It was more than just Paul. He said “Pray for us.” In interceding in prayer, Paul knew that God would open doors (hearts, minds, and places) for the message of Jesus Christ to be preached and taught. The mystery of the Gospel was the indwelling of Christ, the believer’s hope of glory. It is the mystery of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, of His person and the work of salvation through Him.

Paul’s desire, even in chains, was to see the message taken to the world, to be proclaimed in every city, town, and village. In this, Paul knew that the intercession of prayer for the believers and the message of hope must be proclaimed clearly.

Application - Today, prayer meetings are the last thing on the minds of believers in many churches. I remember a church I worked in while at college. We had an evangelist for the weekend. When he came into the sanctuary, there was a room with a placard that stated “Prayer Room”, but it was filled with boxes of miscellaneous things until you could barely fit anything else in. He asked me, “Do we use the prayer room?” and I said “No, it was used for storage.” I felt convicted that day, we have a propensity to say we are praying, when in actuality we are only putting a name on the door or meeting, to look like we are at the work of intercession for the gospel message. If Paul were asking the church today, “Please pray for us, too, so that God may open a door for the message of the gospel. I know what we would say, “We pray at home, or I am so busy I can’t find time, or I can’t find anyone to pray for or with.” 

Today, God is wanting every nation, tribe, and people to hear the mystery of the Gospel. We need to be people of intercessory prayer. The last week of Jesus’ life was focused on prayer. He came into Jerusalem, and cleansed the House of prayer from being a den of thieves. He wept in tears for the people because they didn’t have a clue that God the Son came to give them life and that eternal, then there was the prayer in the upper room for all who would believe, not just for the twelve disciples. Last in the garden and on the cross, Jesus interceded for the lost souls who were religious but didn’t realize the Word of God was being fulfilled in their presence.

Today, God is fulfilling the prophecies in the Scripture. He is asking for His people to humbly call upon His Name (pray) and seek His face. (2 Chr. 7:14) Are we joined together?  Are we interceding for an open door for the message to our neighbors, friends, and acquaintances? Paul knew where to find a prayer meeting, and if there wasn’t one, he would start one.

And God is asking us to take the admonition Paul has given us, to join together in prayer, seeking God’s face, and asking Jesus to cleanse us from all our wicked ways, and then He will hear our prayers for intercession for an open door to heal our land by the proclaiming of the mystery of the Gospel.

  In conclusion, Paul gives wise advice to every believer, “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.” Paul has given us a treasure trove of wisdom.

First, “Be wise.” There was an overabundance of ignorance, stupidity, and foolishness in Paul’s world. People were worshiping the very things that they had made (idols). They were living for pleasure, for intellectualism and spirituality, for riches and pride, and for dominance and power. Wisdom was sorely needed in the church of Colossae. Paul warns them to be wise in the way you live and act towards outsiders (unbelievers). He knew the importance of godly wisdom, He was trying to reach the people in Asia Minor with the gospel, and he knew that you only got one shot at a first impression. He wanted to use every opportunity to reach out with the Gospel, and he knew what closed doors felt like. The church was to use every opportunity to do good, in order to reap a harvest of souls. (Gal. 6:9)

Paul then addresses the issue of conversation. The people in Colossae probably knew how to gossip, tell coarse jokes, lie (even small ones), insult, be sarcastic, and use the tongue to rip at local and Roman politics. The church was not to be like the world. Jesus taught that the church would be the salt to the world. Their conversations were to be seasoned fully with grace (God’s favor). All of this was important in order to not kill any opportunity to share their faith in Jesus, to give a reason for their faith, and how to answer the questions others would ask about their faith.

Paul knew their testimonies would be darkened if their conversations were seasoned with the spice of the world. They were to be the light to the world, not the tint. Paul knew the importance of an honest answer, to a grace seasoned response to a person who wanted to know the reason he believed, preached, and lived the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Good News. The goal was the purpose of the work of God, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.” Matt. 28:19-20

Application - What are our conversations like? How do we act around those who do not believe? Are we using our opportunities to share our testimonies? These are important questions, and we really do know the answers. I know me, and I know the opportunities I have missed because of how I acted or what I said. There wasn’t much fullness of seasoned grace, but more animosity towards the injustice of this world. 

I sat with a group of Christian men and we were talking about how the enemy bates us into failing in our lives, then I remembered an event in my life. 

I was fishing on a dock, it was a beautiful morning. Another person was fishing a little ways down the dock. I had baited my hook sparingly, trying to conserve my bait. I wasn’t catching anything. 

I looked over to the other person and she was catching plenty of fish. I ask what she was using, it was the same bait as mine. I wanted to know why she was catching fish, so I asked what she did differently.

She showed me her hook, it was covered lavishly in bait. She said, “If you want to catch the fish, you need to not be stingy with the bait.”

I pondered that at the meeting with the men, it is like Satan to load the hook to entice me to bite at the injustices I see and feel in life. It was destroying any opportunity I would have to share my testimony with someone about Jesus. I know that the devil knows the perfect bait to lure you away from an opportunity to share the gospel. We need to put into practice the words to the Colossians. “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 haven’t put the ABC’s of Salvation on these lessons lately, so I include it today. Maybe you will use it for yourselves or to lead others to salvation in Christ Jesus.

A - Admit that you are a sinner. This is where that godly sorrow leads to genuine repentance for sinning against a righteous God and there is a change of heart, we change our mind and God changes our hearts and regenerates us from the inside out. Romans 3:10 - As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one." Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (We are all born sinners which is why we must be born spiritually in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven). Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. The bad news is that the wages of sin is death, in other words our sin means that we have been given a death sentence, we have the death penalty hanging over our heads, that's the bad news. But here's the good news: The good news is that the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Ephesians 2:8-9 - For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

 B - Believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and that God raised Jesus from the dead. This is trusting with all of your heart that Jesus Christ is who he said he was. Romans 10:9-10 - That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 8

C - Call upon the name of the Lord. Every single person who ever lived since Adam will bend their knee and confess with their mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, the Lord of lords and the King of kings. Romans 14:11 - For it is written: "As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God." Don't wait until later — do this now. Romans 10:13 - For "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." "O God, I am a sinner. I'm sorry for my sin. I want to turn from my sin. I believe Jesus Christ is Your Son; I believe that He died on the cross for my sin and that He was buried and You raised Him to life. I have decided to place my faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior, trusting only in His shed blood as sufficient to save my soul and to take me to heaven. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for saving me. Amen."

Until next week, “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.” In His Service, Mike Davis

If you want to look for other lessons go to https://pmdinhisservice.blogspot.com/