Colossians 4:2-4 - Devote Yourselves to Prayer
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Jesus is before all things, and in Him all things hold together (Col. 1:17). He is the firstborn from the dead, so He Himself will come to have first place in everything (Col. 1:18). All the fullness of deity dwells in Him (Col. 1:19), and through Him all things are reconciled to God by way of the cross (Col. 1:20).
In short, Jesus is preeminent. He is incomparable. He is supreme. He surpasses all others. He is highly exalted. His name is above every name. That is why we gladly bow the knee to His name and gladly bow the knee in His name.
Jesus said to us…
13 “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 “If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.
If we are followers of Jesus, it’s clear that Jesus expects us to be people of prayer.
Jesus was devoted to prayer.
Luke 3:21, “...while He was praying, heaven was opened...”
Luke 6:12, “It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray...”
Luke 9:18, “And it happened that while He was praying...”
Luke 9:28, “He took along Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray”
Luke 11:1, “It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place...”
Luke 11:2, “And He said to them, When you pray...”
Again, Jesus expects us, His followers, to be people of prayer.
The Apostles were men devoted to prayer.
After delegating to others the food distribution to poor widows, the Apostles said…
Acts 6:4, “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
The Apostle Paul was especially devoted to prayer.
2 Corinthians 13:7, “Now we pray to God that you do no wrong...”
2 Corinthians 13:9, “this we also pray for, that you may be complete.”
Ephesians 1:18, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened...”
Philippians 1:9, “And this I pray, that your love may abound...”
1 Thessalonians 3:10, “...we night and day keep praying most earnestly that we may see your face...”
2 Thessalonians 1:11, “To this end also we pray for you always...”
And to the Colossians Paul said...
Colossians 1:3, “We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you...”
Colossians 1:9, “For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you...”
Because Paul was devoted to prayer, he was no hypocrite when called the Colossians to be devoted to prayer.
He said to them in Colossians 4:2-4…
[READING - Colossians 4:2-4]
2 Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; 3 praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; 4 that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.
[PRAYER]
[ILLUS] I am hoping to put on a few prayer pounds over the holidays.
Many worry about those extra physical pounds come along with Halloween candy, Thanksgiving turkey, and Christmas ham, but while I’m sure to gain those too, I am devoted to gaining a few more prayer pounds during the holiday season.
The old preacher, Thomas Brooks, said, “Consider that, as secret meals make fat bodies, so secret duties make fat souls...”
He went on to say that, “Private prayer is that privy key of heaven that unlocks all the treasures of glory to the soul. The best riches and the sweetest mercies God usually gives to His people when they are in their closets upon their knees.”
[INTER] How’s your soul? Is it malnourished due to lack of prayer? Are your spiritual ribs showing because you won’t bow down before Him in prayer?
[PROP] Very likely, your soul could do with a few more prayer pounds this holiday season; very likely, you too need to devote yourself to prayer.
[TS] In Colossians 4:2-4, the Word of God gives us the CHARACTER of true prayer.
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
#1: The first characteristic of true prayer is earnestness (Col. 4:2a)
#1: The first characteristic of true prayer is earnestness (Col. 4:2a)
Colossians 4:2 (NASB95)
2 Devote yourselves to prayer…
[EXP] Prayer is addressing God. It is entreating God, imploring Him, requesting of Him in a humble manner. It is personal communication with God.
It might take the form of confession, adoration, thanksgiving, or supplication, which is humble begging.
Prayers might be fixed like the model prayer our Lord Jesus taught us, “Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name…” (Matthew 6:9).
Or prayers might be freely constructed like all the prayers we’ve prayed in this service this morning.
Every follower of Jesus ought to be devoted to prayer because...
...we’re commanded to be devoted to prayer.
Colossians 4:2, “Devote yourselves to prayer...”
…prayer changes things.
James 4:2, “You do not have because you do not ask.”
…Jesus made prayer possible.
Hebrews 10:19–22 (NASB95)
19 Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith...
This new and living way of coming before Almighty God—this new and living way that Jesus inaugurated for us through His death and resurrection—is the heart behind Hebrews 4:16…
16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Because Jesus made it possible for us to come before almighty God with confidence, we ought to be devoted to prayer.
But don’t be devoted to cold, lifeless praying; be devoted to hot, fervent, earnest praying.
The NKJV translates Colossians 4:2 as, “Continue earnestly...”
Thomas Brooks wrote, “Cold prayers are like arrows without heads, as swords without edges, as birds without wings: they pierce not, they cut not, they fly not up to heaven. Such prayers have no heavenly fire in them…”
Is there any heavenly fire in your praying?
Is there any heavenly desire in your praying?
Is there any holy yearning in your praying?
[ILLUS] Jesus, who gave us parables on persistent (Luke 18:1-8) and tenacious (Luke 11:5-8) praying, is also our preeminent example in fervent praying.
Hebrews 5:7 says…
7 During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
[APP] Are there any loud cries and tears in our prayers and petitions? Is there any heavenly fire in our praying? Is there any fervency? Any earnestness?
When the word of God commands us to devote ourselves to prayer, it isn’t referring to cold, lifeless praying.
It’s referring to the praying that comes with loud cries and tears.
Theologian Wayne Grudem wrote, “If we truly begin to see situations as God sees them, if we begin to see the needs of a hurting and dying world as they really are, then it will be natural to pray with intense emotional involvement and to expect God, as a merciful Father, to respond to heartfelt prayer.”
[TS]...
#2: The second characteristic of true prayer is alertness (Col. 4:2b)
#2: The second characteristic of true prayer is alertness (Col. 4:2b)
Colossians 4:2 (NASB95)
2 Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it...
[EXP] When Jesus was tempted in the Garden of Gethsemane, He told His disciples…
40 And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? 41 “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
But Peter didn’t remain alert in prayer. He did enter into temptation and fell into sin by denying Jesus three times.
After he was forgiven and restored, Peter wrote from experience the words of 1 Peter 5:8…
8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
The devil is hunting for someone to devour.
He is a hungry lion camouflaged by the world, stalking your unseen.
Don’t let your guard down!
Keep alert! Keep vigilant!
Keep your eyes open in prayer!
[EXP] When Jesus spoke about His return, He said to His disciples…
32 “But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. 33 “Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time will come.
The NKJV says, “Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is.”
Be on guard, keep awake!
Be on guard! Be alert!
For Jesus may return at any moment, and you do not want to be ashamed before Him at His appearing (1 John 2:28), do you?
[TS]...
#3: The third characteristic of true prayer is thankfulness (Col. 4:2c)
#3: The third characteristic of true prayer is thankfulness (Col. 4:2c)
2 Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;
[EXP] In Colossians 1:3, Paul told the Colossians believers…
3 We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
He also told the Ephesian believers that he did not cease giving thanks for them, while making mention of them in his prayers (Ephesians 1:16).
He likewise told the Thessalonian believers…
2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers;
One thing we ought to thank God for in prayer is our brothers and sisters in Christ.
But we ought to thank God for everything in prayer.
Paul told the Ephesian believers that they ought to give thanks for all things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 5:20).
Paul told the Thessalonians…
18 in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
And to the Colossians, Paul wrote in Colossians 3:17…
17 Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.
But the biggest reason we have to give thanks to God in prayer is because He has saved us from the curse of sin and death through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ.
In Colossians 1:12-14, Paul said that he gave thanks to the Father...
13 For He rescued 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.
In 1 Corinthians 15:55-57, Paul said it like this...
55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Are you devoted to giving thanksgiving to God in prayer?
When’s the last time you thanked Him for your church family?
When’s the last time you thanked Him for everything?
When’s the last time you thanked Him for salvation?
[ILLUS] One day at our house the doorbell rang. It was Amazon delivery person dropping off a box. Normally, that wouldn’t be strange, but on this occasion, we hadn’t ordered anything.
I checked the label on the box.
Yep, it was my name and address.
I cut the box open and, confused, I pulled out a large toy pirate ship.
Immediately I thought a family member or a church family member had bought a pirate ship for our son who was still little at the time, so I sent texts out to the usual suspects, and everyone denied sending it.
To this day, I don’t know how we got the pirate ship or sent it.
All I know is, Amazon said they didn’t want it back, so we could have it.
But what if there was someone somewhere who was sent a toy pirate ship as a gift but never received it?
And what if the person who sent the gift expected a thank you but never got one?
Of course, the person who didn’t receive the gift would never give a thank you.
[APP] If you’re sitting here this morning, and you’re not thankful for the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, then you haven’t received the gift of salvation.
And if you haven’t received the gift, you won’t thank the Giver.
Today is the day of salvation.
Receive the gift.
And thank the Giver.
[TS]...
#4: The fourth characteristic of true prayer is gospel-ness (Col. 4:3-4)
#4: The fourth characteristic of true prayer is gospel-ness (Col. 4:3-4)
3 praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; 4 that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.
[EXP] Paul is not ashamed to ask for prayer. He knows that He needs prayer for a lot of different reasons, but none is more important than his proclamation of the Gospel.
So, Paul asked the Colossians to pray for His Gospel-opportunities. “(pray) at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word...”
The word that Paul speaks of in Colossians 4:3 is the Gospel, the good news of God’s saving grace in Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected; its the good news that all sinners who repent of their sin and turn to God through faith in Jesus will be saved from the curse of sin and death.
Brothers and sisters, in your praying, are you praying for opportunities to share this message? Are you praying Gospel-opportunities?
Are you asking others to pray that you would have more Gospel-opportunities?
Paul also asked the Colossians to pray for His Gospel-clarity. “so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ… that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.”
The mystery that Paul speaks of in Colossians 4:3 is the mystery now revealed in Jesus Christ—that salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected for Jews and Gentiles alike.
This would be a stumbling block for the Jews and sound like foolishness to the Gentiles, so Paul asked the Colossians to pray that he would make his Gospel-proclamation clear.
Brothers and sisters, are you praying that you speak with Gospel-clarity as you God brings you gospel-opportunities?
Are you asking others to pray that you would speak with Gospel-clarity?
And finally I believe Paul reminded the Colossians to pray for his Gospel-endurance. “so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned”
The imprisonment that Paul refers to his Roman imprisonment—the one that began with a false accusation in Jersualem, continued with two years of confinement in Caesarea, and culminated with an appeal to Caesar that left him in chains awaiting trail in Rome.
Of course, before he got to Rome there were also beatings, sham-trials, murderous plots, a shipwreck, and a snakebite.
It would’ve been very understandable if Paul had said, “You know what, I’m retired,” but he endured—he fixed his eyes on Jesus who endured the cross and kept running his race with endurance (Heb. 12:1-2).
Brothers and sisters, are you praying that you keep running with Gospel-endurance?
Are you asking others to pray that you would keep running with Gospel-endurance?
[APP] Will you pray that I have more opportunities to share the Gospel?
Will you pray that I share it clearly when I share it?
Will you pray that I endure in sharing the Gospel even when it is resisted?
You don’t have to ask me, I’m going to pray these things for you.
Conclusion
Conclusion
[PRAYER]
