Colossians 4:3,4
by Dr. Grant C. Richison
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Colossians 4:3
"Meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door
for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains."
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"Meanwhile praying also for us"
"Meanwhile" -- Paul is giving them an actual opportunity to pray
for him.
Paul often requested prayer (Rom. 15:30; Eph. 6:19; I Thes. 5:25; Heb. 13:18;
II Thes. 3:1). Do you pray for your pastor? Pray that he would have the
courage to preach with freedom. Great Christians recognize their need for
prayer.
Paul was carrying the ball but he needed guards and tackles out front praying
for him. No running back makes it on his own. Neither does any minister
or pastor make it without prayer.
PRINCIPLE: Prayer warriors are necessary for the work of God to advance.
APPLICATION: When we ask people to pray for us they usually nod their head
and affirm that they will. They usually immediately go out and forget about
it. People do not usually pray for us unless they are relative, good friends
or prayer warriors. This is an area of dishonesty among evangelicals.
Any believer walking in fellowship with the Lord can offer an effective
prayer. Some people think that they have to ask a professional Christian
worker to pray for them. They believe these prayers are more effective
sense they are closer to God. However, God does not hear the prayers of
professional Christian workers any more than anyone else. We cannot use
depending on special types to pray for us as a crutch. Our lives do not
depend on the prayers of Christian workers. If they did, we would all
be in trouble!
Some people make a fetish out of prayer. They become superstitious about
prayer. They think that things are going to go better because special people
are praying for them.
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"that God would open to us a door for the word"
Paul's request for prayer revolved around God opening the door of opportunity
for the gospel (cf. I Cor. 16:9; II Cor. 2:12). Pray that God would afford
an opportunity to present the gospel.
Paul is presently sitting in jail for preaching the gospel. Now he is asking
his friends to pray for him that he would continue doing what put him in
prison! Sitting in a Roman jail has a tendency to discourage a person!
Paul asks for prayer that he would not become discouraged in presenting
the gospel. You would think that Paul would pray that God would spring
him from prison.
God must open the opportunities to preach the gospel. We cannot force the
door. God must open the door. If we force the door, that is the energy
of the flesh. When God opens the door, he will give us what we need to
go through the door.
God closes some doors. There is no sense knocking on that door. All doors
are not open all the time. The missionary expeditions of the book of Acts
clearly show how it is God that opens the doors of opportunity. Revelation
3:7,8 demonstrates how God both opens and shuts doors of opportunity,
" And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write,
These things says He who is holy, He who is true, "He who has the key
of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens":
8"I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no
one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and
have not denied My name."
We see both sides of the truth here. There are times when God shuts a door.
If so, we need to accept the fact that God is finished with that ministry
(for a time at least). God raises up men and movements for a time. He
opens wide the door. He supplies money and personnel. When he finishes,
he closes the door. God does not design all movements and work to perpetuate
forever. When they serve their purposes then God closes the door.
PRINCIPLE: The best opportunity for ministry is when we pray that God would
open the door to that ministry.
APPLICATION: God opens the door. When he does this we need to be sensitive
to God's will. This is God's guidance. This is the category for which
Paul is praying. He is asking the Colossians to pray that God will open
the door of opportunity to preach the gospel.
I Corinthians 16: 9 "For a great and effective door has opened to
me, and there are many adversaries.
II Corinthians 2:12 "Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ's
gospel, and a door was opened to me by the Lord."
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"to speak the mystery of Christ"
"Mystery" does not mean something that is mysterious or spooky.
It means that which is known to the initiated (Phil. 4:12, "I have
learned the secret"). The "mystery" was that which is known
outside unassisted natural perception. In the New Testament, God makes
this information known by Divine revelation.
The English usage of "mystery" means knowledge withheld. The
biblical idea is that of truth revealed. Colossians 1:26 indicates this
sense, "The mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations,
but now has been revealed to His saints."
The New Testament uses "mystery" of:
o truth as revealed in the gospel (I Cor. 13:2; 14:2).
o of Christ, who is God Himself incarnate (Col. 2:2; 4:3) and submitting
himself to death (I Cor. 2:1) and raised from the dead (I Tim. 3:16) and
the universe will be subject to him (Eph. 1:9) and is declared in the gospel
(Rom. 16:25; Eph. 6:19).
o of the church which is Christ's body (Eph 5:32, the union of redeemed
men with God in Christ).
o rapture of believers into the presence of Christ (I Cor. 15:51)
o the hidden forces that retard or accelerate the Kingdom of Heaven (Mt.
13:11; Mk 4:11).
o the present condition of Israel (Rom. 11:25)
o the spirit of disobedience to God (II Thes. 2:7; Rev. 17:5,7; cp. Eph.
2:2).
o the seven local churches and their messengers seen in symbol (Rev. 1:20).
o the way of God in grace (Eph. 3:9).
o a comprehensive way (I Cor. 4:1).
o the secular Greeks used this term for their religious rites and ceremonies
in their secret societies. Those initiated into these societies possessed
certain special knowledge
PRINCIPLE: God did not reveal the idea of the church until the New Testament
with all of its operating assets.
APPLICATION: The mystery pertains to the church. No one in the Old Testament
was baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ (church). The Holy
Spirit did not permanently indwell all believers in the Old Testament.
The Holy Spirit indwelt a few such as Samson and David. Every believer
in the church is a full time priest.
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"for which I am also in chains"
It was the preaching of the mystery that put Paul in jail in the first place.
The gospel compelled Paul to preach. He felt a burden of "woe"
if he did not (I Cor. 9:16; cf. Acts 4:20).
Paul was not only in jail but he was in chains. It is easy to preach the
gospel when the circumstances are comfortable. Comfort did not affect whether
Paul preached or not. Paul sits in chains and is asking the Colossians
to pray that God would give him an opportunity to preach even in adverse
circumstances. Paul saw a potential convert in every human being. We just
see people, antagonistic people, weak people, negative people. All Paul
saw was souls for whom Christ died.
Paul often spoke of his imprisonment (Phil. 1:7, 13-14,16; Col. 4:18; Phile.
1, 9-10,13). The gospel is why Paul is sitting in jail. He took a negative
circumstance and turned it into blessing. While sitting in prison in Rome,
he writes epistles with which the Holy Spirit blessed Christians for 2000
years.
PRINCIPLE: Paul always took his negative circumstances and turned them
into blessings.
APPLICATION: Do you complain about your circumstances or do you pro actively
turn your curses into blessings?
Colossians 4:4
"That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak."
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"That I may make it manifest"
"That" introduces a purpose clause. We are about to hear the
purpose of Paul's life.
"Manifest" means make clear or bring to light. Paul wanted to
expose the gospel in such a way that people can see it clearly. He wanted
them to pick it up in a hurry. He wanted to make it plain. He wanted the
Praetorian Guard chained to him to see the gospel so clearly that there
would be no mistake about the gospel message. He wanted the ability to
communicate the gospel in simple terms.
Paul's concern was that he would not share his faith as he ought. He wanted
to make the gospel clear, not tiptoe around the message so that no one could
pick up the true meaning. He wanted to declare his wonderful message clearly.
PRINCIPLE: God is calling us to make the gospel clear to those he brings
across our path.
APPLICATION: We should begin our day with the prayer, "Lord, open
doors for me to share the gospel. Bring people who need you across my path.
Help me not to bungle the job. Give me courage and may I not play the
coward. Help me to make it clear. Put a divine imperative upon me."
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"as I ought to speak"
The word "ought" means necessary -- "As it is necessary for
me to speak." Paul wanted to meet the need for getting the gospel
out to the world. There is a divine imperative or necessity upon Paul.
Acts 4: 18 "And they called them and commanded them not to speak at
all nor teach in the name of Jesus. 19But Peter and John answered and said
to them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you
more than to God, you judge. 20"For we cannot but speak the things
which we have seen and heard."
Romans 1: 14 "I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both
to wise and to unwise. 15So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the
gospel to you who are in Rome also. 16For I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes,
for the Jew first and also for the Greek."
I Corinthians 9: 16 "For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to
boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach
the gospel! 17For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if against
my will, I have been entrusted with a stewardship."
Note the words "to speak." Words are necessary to communicate
the gospel clearly. Life is not enough. There is a place for life-style
evangelism but lips are crucial to make the gospel known.
I Thes. 2: 4 "But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with
the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our
hearts."
Eph. 3:8 "To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this
grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable
riches of Christ, 9and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery,
which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created
all things through Jesus Christ."
PRINCIPLE: God has placed upon us a divine imperative to share the gospel.
APPLICATION: The door may shut to an opportunity to preach the gospel before
we clear our throat (by the time we get ready to witness). We need to be
alert to opportunities to share our faith. We need the wisdom to recognize
those opportunities.
In football there is something they call a "hole in the line."
The interference opens that hole for a brief second. The ball carrier
must go through that hole in that split second. If we debate while that
hole opens we may lose the opportunity. We must hit the hole precisely
at the right time. If we hit the hole too soon, we force the play and the
hole will not open. If we hit the hole too late, the opportunity disappears.
Timing is crucial.
If salesmen were as quiet as we are about the gospel as we are, they would
starve to death. The best kept secret in the world is that God loves sinful
people and that Jesus died for them on the cross.
Copyright © 1995, Dr. Grant Richison. All rights reserved.
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