Colossians 4

Final Instruction

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 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.

5 aConduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, cmaking the most of the opportunity.

6 Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.

INTRO:

POEM:

“You are writing a Gospel, A chapter each day, By deeds that you do, By words that you say. Men read what you write, Whether faithless or true; Say, what is the Gospel According to you?” - Paul Gilbert

SO THAT’S MY QUESTION THIS MORNING TO YOU. WHAT IS THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO YOU?

As we have seen the book of Colossians deals with truth.

Colossians one- the truth about Jesus Christ on who He is and what He has done. Colossians 1:15-16 Remember, this letter was written explicitly to defeat the heresy or false teachers that had arisen in Colosse.

DENYING- The Gnostic denied His real and true humanity & deity.

CIRCUMCISION- Jewish traditions

Colossians two- deals the truth about the cults

Colossians three & four- deals the truth about the Christians.

Chapters three & four is also a very practical section and it gives us a powerful exortation about how we, the Church, those who are in Christ should behave.

So how should we live as christians? Well Let’s dig in now!

So this is Paul’s final instructions, having to do with two things

4:2-4 is our talk with God through prayer

4:5-6 is our talk with others

Here’s the Commands:

Devote, Keeping, Conduct, Speech.

Verse 2

Devote yourselves to prayer.

Devote- a command to persist daily, associate closely daily, serve personally, to keep hold of.

Acts 1:14 NASB95

14 These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

Do you have this one person whos always close to you?

(Story about my sister)

Verse 2

Keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving

Now who is guilty here of eating before praying?

The word Keeping - to stay alert, to be alert.

Matthew 26:40 NASB95

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?

(Garden of Gethsemane, If it is possible, let this cup pass from me)

(Story when I was a caregiver on duty at night)

an attitude of thanksgiving.

Verse 3

Praying at the same time for for us as well,

for what?

that God will open up to us a door for the word so that we (Paul speaking and his co-labor)

may speak forth the mystery of Christ,

for which I have also been imprisioned. (Paul was writting this letter when he was in prison)

Pray that they what? That Paul may preach Christ, Pray that we and they and all of us that are in the field will make it clear of the Gospel, the good news.

What is Gospel

Man is a sinner and in need of a savior.

Wages of sin is death

God and His love provided a savior in the person of His Son Jesus

He died on the cross for your sins, He took your place and paid the penalty of our sins

And Jesus rose again from the dead, defeating death.

6. A person must repent, believe and receive Jesus to be saved.

that God will open up to us a door for the word so that we (Paul speaking and his co-labor) may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisioned. (Paul was writting this letter when he was in prison)

(Story of how God called me in the Philippines)

Isaiah’s Vision of the Lord

Is.6 In the year that King Uzziah died I tsaw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;

vthe whole earth is full of his glory!”

4 And wthe foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and xthe house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the aKing, the Lord of hosts!”

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.  And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”

Verse 3

So that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for I have also been imprisoned

Again what is this mystery?

The mystery of Christ is the pure Gospel message, and the reason it was a  'mystery' is that it had been hidden from previous generations.

The mystery of Christ was hidden from Old Testament prophets and priests and was only revealed to New Testament apostles and prophets.

Remember, Saint Augustine said,

The new testament is the old testament concealed,

The old testament is the New testament revealed

So the mystery of Christ refers to the CHURCH, and we are all members of the mystical Body of Christ. The mystery that was revealed to Paul and other New Testament apostles was, "Christ in you the hope of glory." Col 1:27

The mystery concerns the Church being baptised into the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit.

The mystery includes our bodies being a Temple of Holy Spirit, Who permanently indwells every member of Christ's spiritual body.

Verse 5

Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity.

Conduct- peripateo

means to walk, behave,live cautiously, live yourselves, myself with wisdom towards outsiders.

In the Greek it means = IN WISDOM WALK.

So who are the outsiders?

The non-believers, those who are outside the church,

outside the body of Christ.

We need to walk and live our Christian life in front of a unbelieving watching world.

So church we are writing a gospel,

a chapter each day,

the things we do and in the words we say.

People are observing us church.

How do we do that?

Going back to the text,

WE NEED TO PRAY,

DEVOTE YOURSELVES TO PRAYER,

Walk your faith

and then

Verse 6

Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt,

why?

so that you will know how you should respond to each person.

But what do you mean with grace? (CHARIS)

Let your speech be as pleasant, attractive, encouraging, and wisdom.

What comes out of your mouth comes out of your what?