Colossians 4:2-6 –
2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. 3 At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— 4 that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.
5 Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. 6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
Introduction
Have you ever felt frustrated or discouraged because you just didn’t know what to do in a certain situation or season of life? Maybe it was in a relationship or with one of your kids or in relation to your job. You mostly wanted to do what’s right, but you were mostly unsure of what that was. If so, what do you usually do?
The central question that caused Paul to write this letter to the Colossian Church, once again, is this: What does it mean to honor God when life is filled with confusion, false teaching, and persecution?
Paul’s ultimate answer is a charge to remember that “Christ is all and in all” (3:11). That is, Colossians, you honor God through every hardship and confusion by remembering that Christ is preeminent over everything in heaven and on earth (including your every hardship and confusion), that He gave Himself as a ransom for you, and that you are alive in Him now and forever! Never take your eyes off of Christ.
On a more practical level, Paul’s answer to the Colossians’ central question is found in our passage for this morning: Be steadfast in prayer (2-4) and walk in wisdom (5-6). In other words, I think it’s right to say that all of Paul’s other charges in the letter fit into the twin categories of trusting in God (steadfast in prayer) and living like Christ (walking in wisdom), no matter the situation. Pray and obey (obedience to Christ’s commands is wisdom).
Grace, let that sink in. How do you live in a manner pleasing to God? What do you do when you don’t know what to do? The first step is always to fight to see Jesus for who He is and treasure Him above all. Read His Word. Meditate on His promises and miracles and majesty. Recall His faithfulness to you in the past. Ask God to help you to see His glory. And the next step is always to live entirely in light of your dependence on Him (steadfast in prayer) and according to Christ’s example and call (in wisdom). Pray and obey. Pray and obey. Pray and obey.
In our passage, Paul focuses on one particular aspect of “pray and obey”. Pray and obey in relation to non-Christians/in an evangelistic sense. When life is challenging within the church, what do we do in relation to those outside of the church? Pray and obey. Pray and obey. Pray and obey.
The big idea (as I imagine you’ve already figured out) is that we honor God when life is hard by continuing steadfastly in prayer and walking in wisdom—especially for and among non-Christians. Let us, therefore, pray and obey, Grace.
Steadfast in Prayer (2-4)
The heart of vs.2-4 is, once again, Paul’s charge to the Colossian Christians to pray. And the charge is built on the deep conviction that the life and ministry God calls His people to is impossible for His people. But in the words of our Lord, what’s impossible for man is possible for God (Matthew 19:26). And we express our acknowledgement of that primarily in prayer.
What follows, then, is a simple call to prayer and a type of template for it. Paul gives four main charges. The first three concern the nature of the kind of prayers he’s calling for and the last one concerns the content.
This is how we pray when life is hard and we are confused, but we know that Christ is preeminent over all of it.
Don’t Give Up in Prayer (2a)
The first thing Paul mentions is being steadfast in prayer. Look at the beginning of v.2.
2 Continue steadfastly in prayer…
That’s a consistent charge from Paul (Romans 12:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:17) and Jesus (Luke 18:1).
No matter our circumstances, but especially when life is hard and there are non-Christians among us, we must “be constant in prayer.” We must “pray without ceasing”. We must “always to pray and not lose heart.”
In other words, when we’re frustrated and confused and hurting, our tendency is often to simply check out, to disconnect, to turn inward, to distract ourselves with the “things that are on earth,” to keep our eyes below the sun. But Paul commands us to “set our minds on things that are above” (3:2) and pray; and never quit praying, especially when all we can do is pray; and even more especially when it involves the salvation of others.
Go to God. Tell Him your heart and mind and hurts and doubts and confusions. Don’t give up when it’s hard or God seems distant or slow or indifferent. Ask Him to sustain you and save those you love.
I don’t know anyone who would say that their prayer life is exactly what they think it should be; but I do know that the more we give ourselves to the things God has called us to, the more we’ll realize our need for help. And the more we realize our need for help, the more we’ll pray and pray and pray. Be steadfast in prayer, Grace.
Look Around and Pray (2b)
With that, Paul’s next charge is to not wait around for some specific difficulty to strike before praying. Pray when there’s nothing left to do but pray, but don’t wait until there’s nothing left to do to pray. Don’t wait until your child has walked away from the faith and is making a wreck of his whole life, your non-Christian loved one is on his/her deathbed, or some grave need hits you head-on.
Rather, “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it …”.
We are finite, needy people. Life will be hard. We live in a disordered, broken world. Things will go bad. We live among sinful and hurting people. Everyone will die. We need salvation. There will always be things to pray for.
Look around, therefore, Grace. Look around, keep alert, stay awake, be watchful for the needs of the world and pray. Or, as Paul writes in Ephesians 6:18, be “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance…”. Or, as Peter commands in 1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober-minded; be watchful”, and pray.
Read the Bible, learn from it your true needs, and pray. Pay attention to the people in your life and pray. Make a list of the people in your life who are not yet trusting in Jesus and pray. Visit the sick and homeless and orphaned and pray. Learn to see every person you pass by as an eternal being and pray. Pay attention to the world around you and continually filter what you see through the lens of God’s Word and turn it back to God in prayer.
I was at a funeral on Friday for a fellow pastor. His pastor called him one of the most godly men that’s ever come through his church. He’d just persevered through what seemed to be the worst part of a prolonged trial. He seemed to have come out on the other side. And then, driving back to MN from vacation, a tire flew off of a truck and struck his minivan, killing him and his oldest son, but not his pregnant wife and his other son.
He was 30. His son was 3. We never know when we or the people around us are going to take our last breath, and so we must be watchful at all times and pray.
Get in the habit of putting down your phone, turning off Netflix, letting go of your favorite sport or team, getting out of your own head, noticing what’s going on around you, remembering your dependence on God, and praying.
In addition, get in the habit of praying prayers specifically enough to know whether or not God answered them, biblical enough that you’re confident it’s good for God to answer them, and that you write down enough to be strengthened by them even when God seems slow to answer.
Look around and pray, Grace.
Pray in Continual Thanksgiving (2c)
The beginning of Paul’s charge in v.2 is largely rooted in the reality that continual prayer is necessary because we are entirely dependent on God and the hardships of life often remind us of that. But the end of the charge in v.2 reminds us that no matter how difficult things are or how desperate our prayers are, we ought always be thankful.
2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.
That doesn’t make sense on the surface, does it? Why give thanks in our prayers when suffering is great, when confusion is nearly complete, when people we love are dying and going to hell? Because in Christ, no matter our circumstances, everything is always better than we deserve. That can be a tough pill to swallow, but it’s a steady theme in this letter.
1:12 giving thanks to the Father, [Why? Because He has] has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
2:6-7 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him… abounding in thanksgiving.
3:15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts… And be thankful.
3:17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Don’t give up in prayer, Grace. Look around and be proactive in your prayers. And pray in continual thanksgiving, no matter your circumstances. If you can’t draw to mind 10,000 glorious graces of God in every trial, ask God to open your eyes, because they’re there to be seen.
I was recently told a story by a young lady who was going through a really tough time with some of her friends. The practical result was that she ended up having to sit next to a very difficult person (instead of her friends) on a bus ride. She took a short nap feeling sad and discouraged, only to wake up with a different girl sitting next to her; one who spent the next 4+ hours asking question after question about the gospel and its significance for her life.
That’s just one small, silly example, Grace, but the reality is (as one of my pastor friends likes to say) that God is always doing 1,000,000 amazing things and we might be aware of 2-3 at any given time.
Pray in thanksgiving, Grace, because in Christ, we have the greatest treasure, continually working for our great treasure, and with greater treasure yet to come, no matter how hard or confusing things are at the moment.
Pray for Fruitful Ministry (3-4)
In v.2, Paul charges the Colossian Christians to pray for themselves, and especially for their own evangelistic efforts. Beginning in v.3, though, he calls them to pray with a more global mindset.
3 At the same time, pray also for us…
“Us” is especially Timothy (1:1). But it is also all the people mentioned by Paul in 4:7-18: Tychicus, Onesimus, Aristarchus, Mark, Justus, Epaphras (who is doing just this, “always [steadfastly] struggling on your behalf in his prayers”), Luke, and Demas.
As we’ll soon see, Paul means the Colossians to pray for them especially in the way of fruitful ministry. But before we get there, I simply want you to see that the first and main thrust of the man who probably had the most fruitful gospel ministry of all time was to pray and solicit prayer from others.
This sentiment is probably best captured in his letter to the church at Rome (Romans 15:30), “I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf…”.
Look with me, then, to the rest of v.3-4 to see the content of the prayers Paul called the Colossians to focus on: Six aspects of a fruitful gospel ministry.
2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. 3 At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— 4 that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.
Paul asked the Colossians to pray…
- For God’s regenerating grace. Pray that “God may open to us a door for the word…”. Notice that Paul isn’t asking the Colossians to pray for a door for he and his fellow ministers of the gospel to walk through (although that’s the next point). It’s for the gospel itself to go through—a door “for the word”. The “open door” seems to be referring to a ready heart/mind in those they are evangelizing. Fruitful ministry is God’s gift. We must share the gospel, but there’s nothing we can do to cause someone to truly hear what we say. There’s nothing we can do to cause their believing. God alone can do that.
How many times did I hear the gospel without even pausing before God gave me eyes to see?! How many times have you shared with your kids or parents or neighbors or friends or co-workers and yet they still reject it or ignore it or mistakenly believe they believe in God’s offer of salvation in Jesus…because they just can’t see if for what it is—the greatest news of all time?
I needed, you needed, they need something we cannot generate on our own or for anyone else…and so we pray and pray and pray. We pray steadfastly, alertly, and in thanksgiving that God would give them eyes to see what’s real and true and imminent and greater than they could ever imagine.
I’ve found a simple picture to be especially helpful…
At the cross, Jesus secured up an unlimited reservoir, of the best, most life-giving, healing, sustaining, living water. Some distance away is someone dying of thirst, entirely unaware of the unlimited supply of the best water, and too weak to get to it even if they did.
That person needs three things. First, they need to know the reservoir exists that they might drink from it. Second, they need some kind of conduit to get the water from where it is to them. And third, they need someone to turn on the valve that the water might flow freely.
It is our job to tell them of the living water. That’s what evangelism is. Next, God has determined that their trust in Him, their faith, is the only conduit through which the water of life will flow. And finally, God’s regenerating grace alone can open the valve. And so we share with them and then we pray, trusting entirely in God to cause the grace of the gospel to flow freely to them, that they might have life.
That’s what Paul meant when he asked the Colossians to pray that God would open a door (or valve) for the gospel to go through as they shared the gospel with the world. Let us follow his example and command. Share the gospel, Grace, and pray.
- For every location. Evangelism is often not quite as hard as we make it seem. I’ve told you before of the story of a women who asked me to pray for her to have the chance to share the gospel with a coworker that she ate lunch alone with every day. Whatever the obstacle was for her, it clearly was not about location.
Sometimes, however, it can be. The P family is in a closed country. There’s a constant tension between being low-key enough not to get kicked out, but bold enough to fulfill their mission. Some of you work from home, more with numbers and spreadsheets and computer code than people. Some of you are homebound for health reasons. Even if you desperately want to get out and share the gospel, your body isn’t cooperating.
At the time Paul wrote his letter to the Colossians, Paul’s location was especially difficult. He was in prison. His location certainly would have kept him from being able to preach Christ, right?
Well, actually, this wasn’t even Paul’s worst imprisonment. You might remember the story of a different time Paul was in prison (Acts 16). He and Silas cast a demon out of a slave girl. The girls’ owners were angry because the demon was making them money, and so they had Paul and Silas jailed. They were in a prison, behind bars, and even to the point that their feet were fastened in stocks. If ever there was a location in which the gospel couldn’t be shared it was that, right.
Indeed, it did for a time. While they waited, they sang hymns and they prayed and prayed and prayed. The Lord heard their prayers and answered them by sending a “great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened” (Acts 16:26).
What a story! You might imagine that they ran out, praised God, and started sharing the gospel in the streets.
What actually happened is crazier still. Knowing that if they left, their jailer (the one in charge of securing their unjust imprisonment) would be killed for allowing them to escape, they stayed for his sake. Amazed by this act of kindness, the jailer cried out, “What must I do to be saved?” They shared the gospel with him and his whole family, they all believed, all of them, and were baptized!
Whenever it seems like it’s impossible to share the gospel because of our location (or for any other reason), we pray. No matter where we are, God is greater.
Closer to home, we prayed and the P family has invited several people to live with them, that they might share the gospel daily. We prayed and I know of at least two guys who work from home who have shared the gospel with coworkers and seen them respond to the gospel in faith. We prayed and I know of homebound people at Grace who pray and write letters to share the gospel with others.
There are many obstacles to the gospel being shared and received, including difficult locations, but Paul knew firsthand that God is more powerful than every obstacle and so he prayed and called the Church to join him.
- For every cost. I mentioned in the previous point that Paul did not doubt that God could give him a fruitful gospel ministry even while he was in prison. What I didn’t say was that it was “on account of [his fruitful gospel ministry that he was] in prison!”
And once again, this isn’t even the highest price he paid for his faithfulness (and neither is the prison-earthquake-whole-family-saved story of Acts 16). In my opinion, that’s a little earlier in Acts (14:19-22).
Paul and Barnabus had been sharing the gospel everywhere they went. As a result, “Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and …they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. 20 But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city…”.
OK. That’s crazy, right? He shared the gospel at the cost of having an angry crowd throw stones at him to the point that they thought he was dead (which was their aim). Who do you know that’s willing to pay that cost?
But that’s not the end of the story.
“…the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. 21 … [and] they … preached the gospel to that city and … made many disciples”!!! But that’s not all either. Then “…they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch [where their stoners were from], 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” Oh man!
The question we need to ask, of course, is how in the world?! Where does that kind of courage for ministry come? Is that a cost you’re willing to pay, Grace? If so, how did you come to that point? If not, where does it come from? It’s not native to any of us. It comes only from God.
Fruitful ministry might come at significant cost, one we might be afraid to pay. Paul of all people knew that and so he regularly prayed and called others to pray for him and for themselves to be willing to pay every cost.
And so, Grace, we pray that God would help us to see that to live is Christ and to die is unspeakable gain.
Paul charged the Colossians to pray for God’s regenerating grace, no matter where they were, no matter what it would cost them, and, forth…
- For the proclamation of the mystery of Christ. Look at v.3.
3 At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ…
You may remember that Paul has mentioned the “mystery” several times already in Colossians. He uses that term in two senses. The first sense is found in chapter 1(:26-27). Mystery in that sense is that Gentiles—non-Jews, can be reconciled to God in Christ as well.
The second sense in which Paul uses the term “mystery” is found at the very beginning of chapter 2(1-2). The mystery Paul refers to there is that Jesus is the Christ. He is the long-promised Messiah. He is the Savior God promised to send.
Most certainly, he has both senses in mind as he asks the Colossians to pray for them to declare the mystery of Christ.
Grace, your testimony is not the mystery of Christ. Proofs for God’s existence are not the mystery of Christ. Giving rational arguments for the possibility of a good God allowing the kind of evil that exists in the world is not the mystery of Christ. Conservative talking points are not the mystery of Christ. Naming all the ways the culture has gone astray is not the mystery of Christ. Talking about how much better your life is because of your faith is not the mystery of Christ.
All of those things might be good things to talk about, but Paul didn’t ask the Colossians to pray for any of them. He asked them to pray, rather, that he would be able to continue to declare that all mankind—regardless of religious, financial, educational, racial, geographical, or intellectual history, and making no distinction between men and women, young and old, respectable or outcast, blue collar or white collar, slave or free, homed or homeless, married or single—has fallen short of the glory of God, received the wages of sin, which is death, stand justly and eternally condemned before God, but may be reconciled to God—not through doing enough good, praying enough, giving enough, serving enough, confessing enough, going to church enough, or obeying enough, but—through trusting in the perfect and all-sufficient work of Christ on their behalf.
Paul wanted the Colossians to pray that God would grant him the chance to continue preaching the mystery that is Christ crucified and risen, to the world, for the salvation of the world, and nothing else.
Let us heed his call. Pray for that, Grace. Pray that we’d preach that great mystery: grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, for all the world.
- For their church and for churches around the world. Pray steadfastly, alertly, thankfully, and for fruitful ministry. And that the fruitful ministry would come through God’s regenerating grace, no matter the location, no matter the cost, through faithful proclamation of the mystery of Christ, and in an ever-widening circle with wherever you currently are as the epicenter.
Simply and quickly, Paul called the Colossians to pray these things first for themselves and then “also” for Paul and his companions. The implication is that God’s people ought to pray all of these things for all of God’s people—starting with ourselves and working out.
Pray, Grace. Pray. Pray that God would give you this kind of heart and aim. Don’t let up until this is your constant heartbeat. Pray that for your family. Pray that for all of Grace Church. I’m not sure there’s a clearer call to come to corporate prayer on Wednesdays where we pray for every member. Similarly, it’s a call to get a copy of the directory and pray down it every day. Pray for the other godly churches in the area and in our networks. This, of course, requires you to be watchful; to talk to brothers and sisters in other local churches, to sign up for and pay attention to the NCD newsletter, etc. Similarly, if ever there were a clearer call to sign up for the newsletters of our missionaries or to get the Joshua Project app, I’m not sure what it is. Pray for God’s help, to do God’s evangelistic will, for us and for fellow believers around the county, country, and world.
Of course, we only have a limited amount of time. We can’t spend all day chasing down every possible thing to pray for. But I think we all know that most of us have a lot we ought to cut out of our lives before we crossed the too-much-prayer line in our lives.
- For clarity. Finally, Paul asks the Colossians to pray that he’d be able to preach the mystery of Christ clearly.
Think about that for a minute, Grace. Consider sharing the gospel with someone you love who is not yet trusting in Christ. Or, consider sharing the gospel the next time you providentially bump into someone at the grocery store or your kid’s activity. It doesn’t have to be long. It doesn’t have to be loud. It doesn’t have to be deep. It doesn’t have to be complicated. It doesn’t even have to be eloquent. It just has to be true and clear.
1 Corinthians 1:17 Christ [sent me] to preach the gospel [the mystery of Christ], and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
2 Corinthians 4:2 We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.
You should be able to share the gospel in a true and clear way in 10 seconds, 10 minutes, and 10 hours. Pray and practice it. You should be able to share the gospel in a true and clear way with a 3-year-old and a 30-year-old. Pray and practice it. You should be able to share the gospel in a true and clear way with a homeless person, a brick layer, an engineer, and a double PhD. Pray and practice it.
The knowledge we need to do this is from God. The desire to do it is from God. The courage to do it is from God. The strength to do it is from God. And the perseverance to keep doing it is from God. Paul knew all of that and so he prayed and asked the Colossians to join him in prayer.
Conclusion
The big idea of this sermon, once again, is that we honor God when life is hard by continuing steadfastly in prayer and walking in wisdom (next week)—especially for and among non-Christians. Let us, therefore, pray and obey, Grace. Let us pray steadfastly, alertly, thankfully, and evangelistically. Let us pray for God’s regenerating grace to come through our simple and clear sharing of the mystery of Christ, no matter where we are or what it costs. Let us pray these things for ourselves, our church, and for all of God’s people around the world.
And let us do so because we know that Jesus Christ is the greatest treasure, preeminent over all, and because He is with us always, having cleansed us of our sins and welcomed us into His kingdom as His beloved friends.