How are we to Pray?

How are we to Pray?

Colossians 4:2-3

1. Prayer must be devoted

2. Prayer must be done in thanksgiving

3. Prayer must be dependent on God

1. INTRODUCTION

i. The book of Colossians is first and primarily about the greatness and sufficiency of Christ. Colossians emphasizes who Christ is but also what He has done. So Paul reminds us through this book, that in light of who He is and what He has done, this is what we must do. So what does the Christian have to do? Well Paul tells us in Chapter 1:9 that we must not cease in prayer. We must pray for those who come to faith and not cease in our prayer for them. What must we be praying for? That those who are new in Christ would walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please Him and bear fruit in every good work (1:10). So what does increasing in the knowledge of the Lord do? It strengthens us with all His power so that we could endure in all steadfastness and patience, joyously giving thanks to the Father who has allowed us to be children of God (1:11).

ii. What we learn from this is the importance of prayer and how prayer is intertwined within the Christian life. We are reminded how important prayer is in the life of the believer. Then in 2:5, Paul tells us that although he is absent in person, nevertheless he is with the church of Colossae in spirit because he’s praying for them and with them. He reminds them to be established in their faith just as they were instructed and to overflow with gratitude (2:5-7).

iii. Paul then goes on to Chapter 3 reminding them of their position in Christ. Colossians 3:16-17 tells the church at Colossae to let the word of Christ richly dwell within them, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. He then closes that statement by telling them, whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks through Him to God. This leads us to the context for our theme. Paul’s reminder throughout the letter is thankfulness. Due to the greatness and sufficiency of Christ, whatever we do, must be done in thankfulness. This leads us to the topic that is before us today. How are we to pray? Paul lays out 3 ways in which we are to pray. Prayer must be devoted, Prayer must be done in thanksgiving, and finally, Prayer must be dependent on God.

2. BODY

a. Prayer must be devoted (4:2)

i. Paul starts the section in verse 1, by reminding us that you should know that you have a master in Heaven. Knowing that you have a master in Heaven, devote yourselves to prayer. When we look at this phrase, we think what does it mean to be devoted to prayer? We can think about devoted means to keep at it, to persevere, to endure.

ii. This is all correct, but Paul gives us more than that. Paul tells us in verse 1, knowing that you have a master in Heaven. Notice that his devotion to prayer is directly connected to knowing we have a master in Heaven. So devotion is knowing that you have a Master. What does devotion look like in this sense? It is to know who God is. Not only knowing who God is, but knowing He is your master.

iii. Paul has previously in chapter 3:18-25 gone over how wives and husbands must act, how parents must behave before their parents and how slaves and masters must act to one another. Paul closes that statement in 3:22 by telling us “fearing in the Lord.” Then in verse 23, Paul starts by telling us, whatever you do, do your work heartily, do it from your heart, as for the Lord rather than for men.

iv. Paul starts this reminder to tell us that everything we do, we must do in our devotion to God. This is why Paul tells us in 4:2, that when we pray, it must be unto God, unto Christ. Knowing whom it is we are serving, we must always do all things in light of who Christ is. This is a strong reminder, that our prayers, the way in which we pray, must always be devoted to a person.

v. I am reminded by when we say things like I am devoted to my wife. This means that I will keep my promises to her, I will remain faithful to her. I will be the man that I said I would be to her when I took my oath to marry her. This is what I believe prayer to be. Paul tells us to be devote yourselves to prayer. It means to always pray, to always trust, to always communicate with God. But it also means, that I will look to the person of Christ. It means that I will pray because I am devoted, I am bound to this person. Prayer creates a connection between God and us. It is through prayer that our relationship with God grows. When Paul tells us to be devote yourselves to prayer, Paul is reminding us who our Master is and our relationship to Him. Paul reminds us in 3:24, it is Christ whom you serve. Therefore, devotion in prayer, in trusting and confiding and relying on Him, it is all done in our personal relationship with Christ.

vi. So how are we to pray? Our prayer lives must be devoted. When I think about devoted in a personal level within relationships, I am reminded of depth. When we think about depth in relationships, it is the ability to talk about more honest things. It is to delve into matters that go beyond the mundane, the ordinary. It’s not conversations that deal with what did you do today, what did you eat, what are you going to do later? But rather, it deals with the person. It deals with conversing about how the person is doing or how they feel. It is to know more about the person.

vii. That is what our prayer lives must be. It isn’t a simple mundane practice of telling God what I am doing, what I will do, and what I will eat today. But rather, it is to be devoted to God. It is to tell Him what it is that is going on in us. It is to be honest with God. But the catch is, to know that He is listening. I think we struggle in our prayer lives because we don’t actually believe that He is listening. And when we know that He is listening, we don’t know how to pray because we think it’s supposed to sound a certain way. We are consistently repetitious to the point that we forget what we’ve prayed about. Years of this type of prayer cause us to be bored in our prayer lives. And the more bored we become in our prayers, we are discouraged to pray at all.

viii. But Paul reminds us, be devoted to prayer. Just as a wife is subject to her husband and the way a husband must be devoted to his wife and his children, do all things in fear of the Lord. Our prayer lives must be practical in our relationship to Christ. Just as we are constantly learning in learning our relationships with our loved ones, we must constantly be learning in our relationship with God. We must learn how to pray better. We must learn more about Him. But the most important thing is, we must be devoted to Him. We must do it from our hearts like Paul writes in 3:23. Praying with devotion is to pray from your heart. It is to put everything into your prayer life and to act according to your prayer.

ix. If you are praying asking God to learn how to love others, you must try to love others. You can’t just sit there asking God, help me to love others and when the opportunity comes, you turn your shoulder. If you pray asking God to help you to love others, God will put you in a situation right away to love others. Being devoted to prayer is not just to continually pray. It is to pray asking God to allow you to apply the very thing you are praying for.

b. Prayer must be done in thanksgiving (4:2)

i. Not only should we be devoted in our prayer, but we should be keeping alert in our prayer with thanksgiving. Our English translations give us, “an attitude”. The hint Paul gives us is in the phrase, “keeping alert.” Paul tells us to continually keep alert. Paul is telling us to watch and pray. Continually be awake and be praying. Why?

ii. The combination of “watching and praying” recalls Jesus’s exhortation to his disciples in the garden of Gethsemane (Matt. 26:41; Mark 14:38). This is supported by observing that the combination of γρηγορέω and προσεύχομαι (proseuchomai) in all of the LXX and NT occurs only here in Colossians and in Matt. 26:41 and Mark 14:38. The exhortations in the two Gospel narratives are to prevent the “temptation” of “falling away” and “denying” Jesus (Matt. 26:31–45). In this light, the exhortations in Colossians may be to encourage the listeners not to fall to the temptations of the pseudo-attractive teaching of the false teachers, who have their own version of what the “mystery” is. This connotation of “watch” is found also in Acts 20:31 as an exhortation to be on guard against false teachers.

iii. But that doesn’t seem to fit as well. Paul seems to be asking for opportunities for Gospel presentations because in verse 3, Paul writes, that God will open to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ for which I have been imprisoned, then continues in verse 4, by saying that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak. Paul is praying for opportunities for him to share the Gospel with others. Pray and continually pray that God would open the door.

iv. This seems to be the context for what Paul is asking here. We are continually to be praying and asking God for opportunities to share the Gospel with others. This seems to perfectly fit in line with Colossians 3:17, Whatever you do in word or deed, doall in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

v. But I believe there’s more to it. N.T Wright writes regarding this verse, The connection here with thanksgiving (see on 1:3–8, 12b, etc.) may suggest the threefold rhythm: intercession, ‘watching’ for answers to prayer, and thanksgiving when answers appear.

vi. I believe this completes the idea. We are always to be seeking for opportunities to share the Gospel, but also, to be praying and watching as God opens doors and answers our prayers, we are called to give thanks when He does answer our prayers. This is the part many of us don’t like. We might pray and might even enjoy praying, but we don’t always appreciate it when God answers our prayers because we don’t really want Him to answer our prayers. Why? Because it’s difficult. Let me explain.

vii. When we pray asking God to make us more patient or more loving, what we are asking God to do is, put us in situations where we must be more patient and more loving. But often those times, those are difficult situations where it is a fight with our husbands or our wives where we need to be more patient and more loving. We pray and God answers our prayers. But it is in these moments, we don’t want God to answer our prayers because we don’t want to be more loving or more patient. But this is exactly what Paul is telling us to do. Be watching, be praying and give thanks when God does answer your prayer. Continually give thanks to Him when He answers your prayer even if it is difficult. It is in these moments, that we must look to Christ and do all things in the fear of the Lord. It is to know that it is Christ we serve and we do all things, to please Him. This is why Paul writes in verse 1, knowing that you too have a master in Heaven. We must know that our master is Christ and He is with us. This is why we must be thankful even when we don’t want Him to answer our prayers. We must be thankful because He is with us and will help us when we seek to obey Him and follow Him. He will give us the strength to love our spouses and be patient with them.

c. Prayer must be dependent on God (4:3)

i. So how do we do these things? How do we do the impossible like loving our wives or our husbands when we want to fight and attack? Paul tells us in verse 3, to be dependent on God. The context of verse 2 is we should be always watching and praying as to how God is answering our prayers. Pray not only for yourselves, but pray for us too, those whom are doing the hard work of spreading the Gospel to others. What are they to pray? They are to pray that God would open the door for opportunities to share the Gospel with others. Why? That they might share the mystery of Christ. The mystery of Christ here means the Gospel of Christ, because it was for this reason that Paul was sent into prison. It was that Paul was preaching the person and work of Christ that he was imprisoned.

ii. So what we see here is, Paul is asking others to pray for him so that He would be able to share the Gospel with others. So what does this look like in our own lives? Yes, we should be praying asking God to open up opportunities to share the Gospel. But how does God open those opportunities practically in our lives? We have to understand first and foremost that the Gospel is extremely practical. The Gospel is not something that we can live without. We can’t take what we know from the Gospel and put it up in our bookshelf and never read it again. Rather, the Gospel is something that we must be reading and read every day to remind ourselves of how practical and important it is for daily living.

iii. So how does God give us practical opportunities to share the Gospel? Well the next time you get into a fight with your wife or your husband, that is how the Gospel becomes practical. Instead of responding in the flesh, know that you have a Master in Heaven. Know that He is watching you and you are accountable to Him. Know that He is the Lord Jesus Christ, and that it is Him that you serve. Not only that, work hard, do it from your heart, don’t do this because you don’t want to get in trouble, but do this because you truly love Christ, that you are seeking to obey Him with all your heart. So the next time that you get into a fight or disagreement with your spouse, look to Christ. Pray for yourself and your spouse that God gives you the strength and the wisdom that you can remind yourself of the Gospel, but also that your life would represent the Gospel.

iv. You see, if you don’t know the Gospel well in word, you won’t know how to practice the Gospel in person. You must know clearly what the Gospel is so that you can practice what it means to live like Christ. Often, it is because we don’t fully understand the Gospel, that we don’t submit to the Gospel. But we must always know that our devotion is not to theology. Our devotion is to God. It is to trust and know who God is, that He is my master and that He is my Lord and Savior. It is because of His great love, that He sent Jesus His one and only Son to come and die for the propitiation for my sins. It is only through His sacrificial death, that all those who put their hope and trust in Him, may have eternal life. And it is only through His resurrection that we have new life in Him. The better we understand that this person, He’s the reason for why I am a changed person, the better we will live in dependence on Him. We must always be reminded of the Gospel, that when the opportunity comes, we will be ready to give an account for the mystery of Christ. It is only through the Gospel, that others might be won to Christ.

v. So the next time you fight with your spouse or boyfriend or girlfriend, remind yourself of the Gospel. Trust in the Gospel and trust in Christ. Strive with all your heart to be like Him, and the better you become at this, the easier it will be to love and forgive and be patient with your loved ones.

3. CONCLUSION