Epaphras and Intercessory Prayer

Lessons from the Bench-- Epaphras and Intercessory Prayer Spring Valley Mennonite; July 14, 2019; Colossians 1:3-14, 4:12-13, 1 Timothy 2:1 Today we will complete our series of “Lessons from the Bench”. We close our studies learning from a dedicated, though somewhat obscure servant of the Lord named Epaphras. Epaphras is mentioned three times in Scripture: twice in the book of Colossians and once in the short letter to Philemon. Turn with me to the book of Colossians, chapter 1, beginning at verse 3 (Read 3-8). I. EPAPHRAS, CHURCH PLANTER IN THE LYCOS VALLEY We pick up several facts regarding Epaphras from these verses: first, Epaphras brought the good news of the Gospel to Colossae and is thought to be among the first ones evangelizing the Lycas Valley in what is modern day Turkey. Notice that Paul calls him “our beloved fellow bondservant”. This is high praise from Paul! We remember that a bondservant is one who made a voluntary life-long commitment to his master. Epaphras was completely dedicated to the Lord and to His work. He was a teacher/preacher/evangelist. Evidence points to the fact that Epaphras founded the churches of Colossae, Hierapolis and Laodicea. At the writing of Colossians, he now is in Rome with Paul, who is writing from prison. In the letter to Philemon, also written from the Roman prison to a slave owner in Colossae, Epaphras is called “my fellow prisoner”. Perhaps he was so outspoken in the cause of the gospel that Rome considered him a threat and imprisoned him. More details are given in Colossians 4, verses 12-13 (READ). We learn that Epaphras was “one of your number”, confirming that His home was in Colossae. More importantly, his ministry to the church in Colossae did not end when he left for Rome, but he “was always laboring earnestly in his prayers for them”. Epaphras cared deeply for the believers of Colossae and expressed that concern by doing something about it: even though absent from them physically, he immersed himself in intercessory prayer on their behalf. Look again at verse 12: he was “always—laboring-- earnestly in prayer FOR THEM!” It is this characteristic of intercessory prayer that I would like to explore with you this morning. S.D. Gordon, Christian lecturer and writer in the early 20th century, in his book “Quiet talks on Prayer” says this: “The greatest thing anyone can do for God and man is pray. It is not the only thing; but it is the chief thing. The great people of the earth today are the people who pray. I do not mean those who talk about prayer; nor yet those who can explain about prayer; but I mean those people who take time and pray” He also observed, “Prayer is wholly a secret service. We do not know who these people are. I often think that sometimes we pass some (ordinary)- looking woman quietly slipping out of church; and we hardly give her a passing thought, and do not know, nor guess, that perhaps she is the one who is doing far more for her church and for the world and for God than a hundred who would claim more attention and thought because she prays, truly prays as the Spirit of God inspires and guides.” Gordon continues, “A man may go aside today, and shut his door, and has really spent a half hour in India—I am thinking of my words as I say them, it seems so much to say, and yet it is true—really has spent a half hour of his life in India for God as though he were there in person. Is that true? If it be true, surely you and I must get more half hours for this secret service. Without any doubt he may turn his key and be for a bit of time as potentially in China by the power of prayer, as though there in actual bodily form.” My hope this morning is that we might be encouraged to pray, interceding for the needs of others. II. WHAT IS INTERCESSORY PRAYER? 1 Timothy 2:1 “First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men…” In this instruction to Timothy, Paul sets a priority on prayers being made for others. Why is this of primary importance? Prayer taps into the unlimited power of God on behalf of others. Do you find it difficult to be consistent in your prayers for others? Have you ever thought why this is? Why do we get so distracted while we pray? Perhaps that is not a problem you face, but I have the feeling that the problem is universal! I firmly believe that the reason we get so distracted is that Satan fears our prayers more than anything else! So, he works extra hard to distract us. Once we realize this situation, and that prayer is a major battlefield, we can be better prepared, and much more effective in our praying. When Paul instructs on putting on the armor of God in Ephesians 6, have you noticed that after we are “armored up” that we are then to pray? Listen to Ephesians 6:17-18: “And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints…” Intercessory prayer requires that we have our spiritual armor on! I found this quote from Samuel Chadwick, an English Methodist minister of the late 19th century: “Satan dreads nothing but prayer. His one concern is to keep the saints from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.” Paul knows Satan’s strategy of distraction and urges alertness as we pray for others. Intercession is praying for someone as if we were that person praying for himself. As we think of one on whose behalf we are interceding in prayer, put yourself in their shoes. What would they pray for themselves if they were really in tune with God? If you are like me, often I will have the desire to pray for someone, but lack details on what specifically to pray for. So, I pray something general like, “God, please bless _________”; while that is better than nothing, it is possible to pray more specifically and strategically for people. I think Paul gives us instruction on this matter, for he was dedicated to praying for others. Here in this book of Colossians we find some principles for intercessory prayer. I wonder if Epaphras and Paul came up with these principles together. III. PRINCIPLES OF INTERCESSORY PRAYER Look at what Paul says in Colossians 1:9-12 (READ) Verse 9: Pray that the object of your intercession would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will. God’s will is both general, for all people, and specific: what God wants the person to do in particular. God has promised to guide His children, so claim that promise for that person. The verse qualifies that prayer by adding “in all spiritual wisdom and understanding”. Think with me for a moment: what would prevent a person from tapping into God’s wisdom and understanding? What blocks communication with God? Is it not sin? So perhaps included in this prayer is praying that they would be aware of any sin that would be between them and God. We could pray something like “Give him spiritual insight Lord, so that he might repent and confess any sin that would block knowledge of Your will in his life.” If you are interceding for someone who is not yet a believer, your prayer would be very similar: “Lord, make her aware of her sin and the need to ask for Your forgiveness. Remove any barriers to her believing the truth. Bind the enemy from his blinding effect on her mind.” Several more principles for interceding for another are found in verse 10: We are to pray that they might walk or live in a way worthy of the Lord, in a way pleasing to Him. We are to pray that they would live according to scripture, which also requires that they would become a student of the Word, otherwise how can we know what the Lord requires? Psalm 119:9-11: “How can a young man (or anyone) keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Thy word. With all my heart I have sought Thee; Do not let me wander from Thy commandments. Thy word I have treasured in my heart that I may not sin against Thee.” Another thing in our intercession is that they would be active in serving the Lord through their good works: This is in line with Ephesians 2:10: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” What a promise! We are saved to serve God by being His hands and feet, meeting the spiritual and physical needs of others, serving His people, loving as He loves, joyfully living unselfishly. What a wonderful thing to pray for others! We are to pray, as Paul did for the Colossians that the objects of our prayers would be “increasing in the knowledge of God”. This is an experiential knowledge, not just knowing facts about God. It is not a mystery how such knowledge is gained about God: it is the same way we get to know anybody. Knowledge is gained by spending time together. So, we pray that the object of our intercession will take time to spend in personal devotions, in study of the Word, and in carrying on a continual conversation with God as they go through each day. By the way, all these things would apply to ourselves too! This is a wonderful personal prayer list for ourselves. Verse 11 gives us further instruction: We are to pray that they would realize how God wants to strengthen us with His power. God does not desire that any of His children live in spiritual poverty! (Dr. Bill Bright told a story of a person taking passage on a ship. He packed cheese and crackers to eat during his voyage. After several days of smelling the food being served in the galley, he stopped a steward and offered to wash dishes or swab the deck or do anything to be able to eat the food he was smelling. Astounded, the steward replied, “Sir, are you not aware that the food is included in the price of your passage?” Many Christians are living on “cheese and crackers” in terms of spiritual power, when God has provided filet mignon! His overwhelming power is available to each believer. We pray that this would be realized and utilized. Paul amplifies this request in Ephesians 1:18, as he describes his prayers for the Ephesian believers: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.” What is the source of power in the believer? Acts 1:8: “And you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…” As we are each indwelt by the Holy Spirit when we are born again, this great power is within us, available anytime. Believer, do you experience this great power? Is God lying about it being available to us? Of course not! We are to intercede that God’s great power for change and for changing the world and for changing our perspective would be unleashed in the life of the one for whom we pray—and in ourselves. Back in Colossians 1:11, there is also a perspective to be changed, seen in the phrases following: “for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience.” Gaining God’s perspective is seeing the big picture of what God is doing in the world. We often don’t understand why God allows trials and suffering or seemingly unending challenges in our lives. But we are to keep the faith, trusting God’s character, trusting that He loves us and that He has our ultimate good in mind. When we can’t understand what His hand is doing, we trust His heart. This trusting attitude makes possible the joyful and thankful heart, the “in all things give thanks” attitude. This brings us to the last thing Paul prays for the believers, and what we are to imitate: He prays that they would realize the greatness of their inheritance as members of the Kingdom of light, with all the bright promises of joyful, satisfying and fulfilling life in the here and now—in addition to a glorious forever future! We have been rescued from Satan’s gloomy dark miserable kingdom and transferred to the kingdom of light. IV. THESE PRINCIPLES DEMONSTRATE HOW SHALLOW OUR INTERCESSORY PRAYERS USUALLY ARE! So, how do our prayers of intercession stack up against how we usually pray for others? Did you notice what is not mentioned in this list about intercessory prayers? Notice that Paul didn’t mention praying for healing or rescue from adverse circumstances? Now we can admit that Paul is speaking in general. If he knew of specific needs of someone, I am convinced he would mention those things to God. But so many of our prayers for others are about fairly insignificant things—often physical needs-- when we should be praying for the much more significant spiritual needs mentioned in this text. I wonder if we often pray that a trial or situation would end for someone while God has sent that very trial to deepen and grow that person. Perhaps the trial is sent to create perseverance, and the response God wants is for them to consider it joy, knowing that the testing of their faith will ultimately lead them to be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing as James 1 instructs. Let me close with some practical suggestions for our prayers: • Have a list. This is very simple, but effective. List the people and list these items from Colossians 1 to pray for them. • Have a time to pray. Because we can pray at any time, that “any time” very often becomes “no time”. Remember that Satan opposes strenuously our prayer efforts but having a set time to pray will go a long way to defeat his opposition. The enemy knows the power of effective prayer. • Have a special place—do you remember the video “War Room” we watched a few months ago? The lady had a special prayer closet with sticky notes plastered all over it—not a bad idea. I think if we took the effort to do something like that God would surely honor it. • Expect difficulty—we are at war with spiritual forces. I’ve printed up some copies of a brochure entitled “Praying for Others” which are on the back table. Feel free to take one. I pray that we all will take these principles and imitate Epaphras in “always laboring earnestly” in our prayers for others. I would humbly ask that you would pray these things for your pastor.