Colossians 4:3-4

3 Also pray for us that God will give us an opportunity to tell people his message. Pray that we can preach the secret that God has made known about Christ. This is why I am in prison. 4 Pray that I can speak in a way that will make it clear, as I should. (Colossians 4:3-4)

Paul asks the Colossians to pray that God would provide opportunities for sharing the Gospel. I find it quite instructive that he requests the opportunity. He doesn't pray that those he is ministering to would believe or understand the message. 

Paul sees his job as explaining the unexplainable, and making the eternal known to the temporal. He asks that he can be faithful to the call of proclaiming the mystery of the Gospel.

This underscores the fact only God can change hearts. He is the one who actually changed hearts. The role we played was to give up to His sovereign care.

God gives us opportunities and we make the best of them. We don’t create these opportunities. We can’t make people believe the Gospel. We can’t change anyone’s heart. Heck, we can't even change our own hearts.

Don't you find it interesting that Paul sees the purpose for his imprisonment was that he would be able to share the Gospel with his hearers? Since he was shackled to a Roman soldier, he had a captive audience. 

Oh, to get to that place where I view all things as from the Lord. Whether good or bad, everything has purpose to and for the Lord. And, His purposes are the best.

I remember when my wife of nine years told me that she needed to donate her kidney to her youngest sister. I demanded that her middle sister give the kidney. I later learned she would have kidney issues of her own. It was a must that my wife give her youngest sister one of her kidneys. 

That was twenty-one years ago. Although I couldn't see it then, there were many purposes to all of that madness. My wife's middle sister would have been in a world of hurt, not to mention the youngest sister, because she would later need a kidney transplant of her own.

Through all of that which took place in 1997, I saw that the Lord sees and knows the big picture; I do not. I discovered it is best to leave it all, the good and the bad, up to Him. Trusting that it all has purpose. My responsibility is to walk through the doors He opens, and as clearly as possible, proclaim the mystery that I've come to understand.

Colossians 4:2 (2)

Continue praying, keeping alert, and always thanking God. (Colossians 4:2)

In this one verse, we see a formula which aids in our spiritual maturity.

Continual prayer + remaining alert + giving thanks creates an incubator effect in the believer who is maturing spiritually.

“Christianity is not about learning how to live within the lines; Christianity is about the joy of coloring.” (Yaconelli)

Continual prayer is practicing God's presence on a daily basis, it is not about our performance or garnering God's attention. It is hard work to practice God's presence continually, but if we see it as an utter necessity, we will develop this habit more and more as we walk with the Lord.

Maintaining healthy fellowship with anyone requires communication. It is a determined mindset that causes us to be "on line" with one another. And, it is no different with God. Being "on line" with the Lord is a conscious decision that we make every day.

The heart attitude of praying without ceasing is an ever-open heart to the Lord’s presence. And, when we exercise His presence through an unending type of prayer, we position ourselves to experience, in a greater degree, the life Jesus died to give us. The Bible calls it "eternal life", life with the touch of eternity upon it.

The second part of this formula is "keeping alert" which is "gregorao" in the Greek. Gregorao means to be cautious, give attention and to be on guard. Most think this admonition is here to alert us to the enemies presence. It is not. We are to be alert to Jesus' presence and activity in our lives.

My wife and I recently rescued a dog. Today, I took her for a ride. I noticed that when I got out of the car to put gas in the tank, this little dog did not take her eyes of me. She ran from one side of the car to the other just so she could keep her eyes on me. It was at that point that I remembered this verse. It could read "keep your eyes on me."

Finally, the third part to this formula is "always thanking God." It is natural that Paul would remind us to be thankful in light of the activity of God in our lives.

I have discovered along my journey the more I choose to be thankful, the more I have to make me more thankful. When I foster grateful heart, I am discovering that my hearts is often like a magnet sweeping over my day, collecting reasons for which I am grateful.

Colossians 4:2

Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. (Colossians 4:2)

The goal of Paul in the book of Colossians is the spiritual maturity of his readers. "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27) is the primary means of accomplishing this goal. The secret to the Christian life is Jesus Christ living His life in us, to us, and through us.  

In Colossians 4:2, Paul introduces prayer which is one of the three essentials believers have to advance our spiritual maturity. This phrase "devote yourselves" occurs six times in the New Testament with regard to prayer.

Prayer is one of the few things in this word, in addition to the Holy Spirit and the word of God that bridges the gap to enable the believer to connect the physical world to the metaphysical world.

Philip Yancey writes, "For me, prayer is not so much me setting out a shopping list of requests for God to consider as it is a way of 'keeping company with God."

It is God's will that we pray to Him, therefore, Paul encourages us to devote ourselves to prayer. "Devote" or "proskartepeite" in the Greek, literally means "to join." Prayer is simply joining God as we go through life on earth. It is not meditation or passive reflection; it is talking to God. It is just like talking with our best friend. It is the communing of the human soul with the one who created that soul. 

God loves it when we ask Him for things. In fact, in Proverbs 15:8 we read, "The prayer of the upright is His delight." In Isaiah 65:24 we read, "It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear." But, if prayer is merely asking of God things, we have missed the essence of prayer.

Prayer is the primary way for the believer in Jesus Christ to communicate his emotions and desires with God and to fellowship with God. Prayer is essential for every aspect of our lives. 

Prayer should be something that we are deeply committed to, not an every now and then exercise that captures our attention, but a life-giving necessity for our truest selves.

Tomorrow, we will continue in this discussion of the essential nature of prayer and its role in our spiritual maturation, but let me lead you with this idea: Prayer is for the prodigals, the imperfect. And when we are honest with God as we listen and talk with Him, we will advance in our spiritual maturity. The problem is what does spiritual maturity look like? Spiritual maturity is being comfortable with the uncomfortable.

Colossians 3:22-4:1

22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. 25 Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism. Masters, be just and fair to your slaves. Remember that you also have a Master—in heaven.(Colossians 3:22-4:1)

The wisdom given to slaves is the same as the wisdom given to children in v.20. In biblical days, slaves were those who willfully entered into a contract with someone for whom one renders a service. It was much like an employee/employer relationship.

When we work for our employer, we’re actually working for the Lord, making our work an act of worship. Our work should be as if we were doing the job for the Lord Himself.

God's wisdom to wives includes to do what is “proper in the Lord.” The wisdom to Children includes to do what is “pleasing to the Lord.” Slaves and masters are taught to do according to the character Christ.

When Christ is at the center of all of our relationships, we will become better husbands, better fathers, and better employees. Embracing the wisdom of the Lord will enable us to relate better in all of these contexts.

God He gave us wives so that we could love Christ more.  He gave us children so that we could know the love of a Father in a different way. He gives us a boss, so I can understand Him as Lord.

The key to spiritual maturity is knowing God the Father through his Son Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. And, He has given us relationships here on earth in order to help us along in our relationship with Him. Each of these relationships has something to do with our relationship with Christ.

Everything comes together in the end. Our focus is to keep Christ at the center of it all. He is the one who keeps things working as He created it to. It is not about being a better wife, a better son or daughter, a better husband or a better employee. No, it is about knowing the Lord better and learning to think His thoughts and walk in His wisdom.

Colossians 3:20-21

20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged. (Colossians 3:20-21)

The expectation of children in our culture today is to succeed at school by making good grades. But, the instruction from God for children is to learn to relate well with others. 

For children, the most defining human relationship is with their fathers. This is why God begins with that relationship for children. And God commands children to obey their fathers. In fact, God commands obedience in everything.

Disobedience results in disrespect, not only toward our fathers but in all relationships with authority figures, even ourselves. In fact, it is this disrespect that erodes the posture in our yielded lives that allows us to receive from the God the security that is needed to mature us in all ways.

God provides this instruction for children so that the infrastructure will be developed so that the children will respect all authority for the rest of their lives. Much of our success in life emanates from this development of respect for authority.

God tells fathers do not “embitter" your children which means do not "provoke your children to anger.” As seen in Ephesians 6:4, fathers provoke our children to anger when we do not train them up in the ways of the Lord. We train our children best when we encourage the default mode that God placed in all of our hearts. This default mode is the ways of the Lord. 

The word "train" in Ephesians 6:4 borrows from the practice of the Old Testament midwife. After delivering the baby, the midwife would dip her finger in a jar of date juice followed by sticking that finger in the newborn's mouth. They did this to create a desire in the newborn to want to suck. As a result, their children will benefit in all their other relationships. This  

Children long for guidance and involvement with their fathers, not for a superficial relationship. The lack of such guidance and involvement will most often create a deep-seated, sometimes lifelong feeling of resentment. They will also become discouraged from the ways of God.

The primary characteristic of all of these relationships is respect. When a husband loves his wife, he respects her. When a wife submits to her loving husband, it is respect. When children obey their fathers, they are respecting them. 

Colossians 3:18-19

18 Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. (Colossians 3:18-19)

The Apostle Paul now provides wisdom for the family. This makes sense since the strength of any group, be it a church or a society, is dependent upon the strength of the family.

In any context there must be an authority structure, and there must be an order to that authority. Everyone plays a role in order for the goals to be accomplished. No role is less important than the next, they're just different roles and are necessary. 

In v.18 God gives to the wife the role of supporting her husband. And, if the wife does not support her husband, recognizing his leadership role, there will be chaos in the home. 

To the wife, God says, "submit to your husband." "Submit" means "to line up under someone." Of course, a husband who is fulfilling his God-given responsibility toward his wife will not have a wife who chooses not to submit to his leadership.

Now, it is not the husband's responsibility to make his wife submit. It must be voluntary, thus it is right in the sight of God. 

Paul, in v.19, follows with a command to husbands. The husband is to love his wife. He uses the word "agape" which is the type of love which chooses to love with no ulterior motive in mind. This is an unconditional love which cannot be altered, even if the wife is not submitting.

Loving leadership is that which the godly husband wants to provide for his family. Of course, it is a product of all that the Apostle has been teaching us in all the verses before in the book. As with any relationship, the husband's love for his wife is most largely dependent on his walk with the Lord.

Not being harsh is a part of what loving one's wife looks like. Of course, resentment is of our flesh, our sinful desires, and often expresses itself in sarcasm toward our wives. 

Women are wired differently than men. This is why Paul instructs the husband to resist criticism and sarcasm. These also are expressions of the flesh. 

Colossians 3:15-17

15 Let the peace of Christ have power over your hearts. You were chosen as a part of His body. Always be thankful. 16 Let the teaching of Christ and His words keep on living in you. These make your lives rich and full of wisdom. Keep on teaching and helping each other. Sing the Songs of David and the church songs and the songs of heaven with hearts full of thanks to God. 17 Whatever you say or do, do it in the name of the Lord Jesus. Give thanks to God the Father through the Lord Jesus. (Colossians 3:15-17)

"Let the peace of Christ have power over your hearts" is not used any where else in the New Testament. There are scriptures that mention the “peace of God” and the “peace of the Lord,” but this is the only reference to the“peace of Christ.”

A careful study of peace in the scriptures renders an understanding that it is about two entities who once were at war but now have come together as one. This is what forgiveness renders. When we clothe ourselves with all of these God-given traits, the peace of Christ rules in our hearts.

Gratitude plays an important role in this arena where peace rules. In v.15, Paul uses the word "eucharistoi" translated "thankful." This word gives us our English word "eucharist" which is the celebration of God's forgiveness of us through the cross of Christ. It is the intense love of Christ demonstrated at the cross that creates eucharist or thanksgiving in the heart of the believer.

Note that it is in believers' hearts that this activity takes place. Not in our minds, not in our spirit, not on our soul. It happens in our hearts, the deepest and most vulnerable part of our being. I think of Brennan Manning's quote, “How glorious the splendor of a human heart that trusts that it is loved!”

We must remember spiritual maturity is not about being repaired; it is about God being present in the everydayness of our lives. He is among the good and the bad that we are. And, He is training us to yield to Him as He works in all these traits that have their origin in Him.

Paul then writes “Let the teaching of Christ and His words keep on living in you.” Again, we have a unique phrase that we don’t see anywhere else in the New Testament; the “teaching of Christ.”

As the teaching of Christ dwells in us and defines us, we are positioned to help each other by His wisdom. And, if we are not being taught by Him, we will lack the very content that we need to be a blessing to others.

In v.16, we see one way that we help others with that which the Lord is teaching us; putting the teaching to music. And when we sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, we are being given a way of allowing the word of Christ to dwell in and among us.

In v.17 the Apostle implores us to do whatever we do in the name of the Lord. Each day as we go about our normal routines, there should be no divide between our "sacred" lives and our “secular” lives.

We spend so much time trying to figure out what we should do; the reality is that God is far more interested in how we do it. We shouldn't be overly worried about what we do, as we should about how we do it. Our main responsibility is to invite Him into the details of our lives.

Colossians 3:13-14

13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. 

(Colossians 3:13-14)

In Colossians 3:13, the Apostle Paul exhorts us to "bear with" one another. To "bear with" means to show tolerance. This command was written into a context of believers who saw life differently due to their relational contexts. This is the case for all of us, we all view life from the context we have come from and the one which we are currently found. This is largely that which creates friction among us.

Of course, the Apostle is not encouraging believers to tolerate sin, like murder, rape and stealing. He is actually leaving room for reality. You see, even though we are "born again" and on our way to heaven, we are still broken. And due to this brokenness, we hurt one another. Sometimes, we do it intentionally.

Next the Apostle tells us to "forgive one another". Using the Greek word "χαριζόμενοι" translated "forgive" which appears twenty-three times in the New Testament, forgiveness is to give favor unconditionally. The ground of all forgiveness is cemented in the unmerited love of God.

There is a Chinese proverb which says, “He who seeks revenge should dig two graves.” Forgiveness is not something we do only for others. When we forgive, we are not allowing the pain to define us. 

It was Nelson Mandela who said, “Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.” When we hold on to forgiveness, we allow our pain to define us.

When we hurt and we choose to forgive, we are allowing God's love to define us.

In the same way we have experienced and understand the Lord's forgiveness is the same way we are capable of forgiving others. 

There are three parts to forgiveness: 1) the offense, 2) the debt incurred, and 3) the canceling of the debt. Forgiveness is not a feeling, it is a choice. 

It is only natural that the apostle tells us to wrap all of these previous mentioned qualities in v.12-13 with the bond of love. And, just like forgiveness, this love, agape, is a choice not based on feelings.

This love is that quality of acceptance of others because we are recipients of God's favor. We are no longer the old persons we once were. We are to treat the past as though we were dead to it. And now, we are being defined by what

God has made us to be.

Colossians 3:12

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (Colossians 3:12)

Believers fail to be spiritually mature when we lack an understanding of the difference between the old man (flesh) and the new man (Spirit-controlled life). In order to make this distinction, we must daily welcome God's definition of things through His Spirit and reject the thinking of the old man (flesh).

In Colossians 3:12, Paul reminds us that we are chosen, holy and loved by God. When we are defined as such, we will be postured to walk in His compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

Notice this list of godly traits shows the contrast with the list of ungodly traits mentioned in v.8. Choosing to yield to the provision of the Spirit is far more rewarding than the natural expressions of our old way of living.

Paul doesn't command us to create these characteristics, he simply commands us to appropriate them or be clothed in them. The Lord is the inertia and we are the conduits. And, as always, we benefit from what God is doing in the lives of others, as we are given opportunity to minister on His behalf.

If we have not and/or are not experiencing Jesus Christ in this way, we will not be in the position to experience His life in our relationships with others.

Paul writes, "clothe yourselves with compassion." 

Compassion is gentleness of heart that doesn't pass judgment or criticize, because they are aware of their own sinfulness and God’s compassion on them.

Again, Paul writes, "[clothe yourselves with] kindness."

Kindness expresses itself with an encouraging word or a pat on the back. The disposition of kindness is gentleness. 

Again, Paul writes, "[clothe yourselves with] humility."

Humility is the opposite of pride which is what inaugurated sin. We are to "regard others as better than ourselves." We are not to consider ourselves in any way as superior to others.

Again, Paul writes, "[clothe yourselves with] "gentleness." 

Other translations render gentleness as "meekness" which is "strength under control." Gentleness is real strength, but it does not have to display itself or show off how strong it is.

Again, Paul writes, "[clothe yourselves with] patience."

Restraining oneself from becoming upset or speaking sharply to someone who is demonstrating exasperating behavior.

Finally, Paul's goal in Colossians is the believer's spiritual maturity. The benefactor of these godly qualities is primarily the one putting them on, however, this is God's way of training others to think and live His ways. 

These traits are not only a means to living this life with the touch of eternity on it, they mark the spiritual maturity of the believer.

Colossians 3:8-11

8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, 11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all. (Colossians 3:8-11)

In Colossians 3:8-11, the Apostle Paul is telling us is how to resist the sexual sins that he mentioned in the previous verses.

Truth and telling the truth to each other is what sets us free (see John 8). When we are open, honest, and vulnerable with each other, good stuff will result. It is in the context of truth that reality is best experienced and reached.

When we embrace truth, we will not fulfill the evil desires that our flesh beckons us to do. The phrase "do not lie to one another" literally means “stop lying to each other.”  This posture of lying is something Paul calls the old man which has to be buried daily.

Even though we have been forgiven our sin, we still have a civil war going on inside of us. On any given day, we can choose to obey the sin that is still in us or we can choose to obey god's Spirit who has made our spirits alive to God.

Literally, Christ is the new self within us. It is He who supplies for us the ability to be loving, selfless, honest, and free. He, as we yield to Him, makes it possible for us to embrace the truth and reject the false.

But, we have been led to use the cloak of lying for so long, it is difficult for us to be vulnerable and free to be real with one another. We intentionally hide the truth about who we really are. And, apart from Christ, we are all a mess. We all have our issues depending on how we have served sin in the past. And, these past patterns are not so easy to nullify.

This explains why some struggle with sexual sins while other struggle with anger. It also explains why some have a problem with stealing and others have a problem with alcohol or drugs. And, our past of hiding from the truth explains why we have the proclivities that we have.

We are all in this boat together, and the bottom line problem that we all share is deceit, as Paul points out in v.9. The answer for us all is an invitation for us to run around in Christ's freedom.

We all experience this never-ending search for who we really are. For some of us, we have embraced deception so much that we do not really know who we are. The older we get, the more complicated this mystery becomes.

We are afraid to be ourselves, and to let ourselves be known. The truth is we all  long to be real with our sinfulness, because our sinfulness points to the sinlessness of the character of Jesus.

His truth always leads to forgiveness, redemption, and healing. But, we are all accustomed to covering up our sinfulness.

So how do we put aside this old way of living that we’re so used to? We tell each other the truth. We stop lying to each other. We tell the truth because we now understand that His truth sets us free. And, the truth is He loves us. And, His love is accessed by us through faith and repentance.

I like the way Mike Yaconelli put it when he said, "The power of the Church is not a parade of flawless people, but of a flawless Christ who embraces our flaws. The Church is not made up of the whole people, rather of the broken people who find wholeness in a Christ who was broken for us."