Colossians 4
1Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.
Further Instructions
2Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 5Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
Final Greetings
7Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. 8I am sending him to you for the express purpose that you may know about our[a] circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts. 9He is coming with Onesimus, our faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. They will tell you everything that is happening here.
10My fellow prisoner Aristarchus sends you his greetings, as does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas. (You have received instructions about him; if he comes to you, welcome him.) 11Jesus, who is called Justus, also sends greetings. These are the only Jews among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have proved a comfort to me. 12Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. 13I vouch for him that he is working hard for you and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis. 14Our dear friend Luke, the doctor, and Demas send greetings. 15Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house.
16After this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea.
17Tell Archippus: "See to it that you complete the work you have received in the Lord."
18I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.
Footnotes:
[a] Colossians 4:8 Some manuscripts that he may know about your
4 comments:
great instructions from paul...it painted a comparison of today's missionaries who come to the front of the church and we pray for and send out (commission). Likewise, just cool to hear Paul advising them to be open to other Christian brothers and how they are a team. the one thing that always strikes me, is the use of the term slaves in the Bible. In this case, I think Paul is reminding them to be kind to slaves. But, why doesnt paul condemn slavery altogether? i realize it was part of the culture, but that doesnt make it right. so maybe it is my perceived definition of slavery is off(like we had in the USA years ago). and maybe slavery is a bit different in Biblical times. Do you guys hae any thoughts on this?
Col 4:
Well, you can't say that Paul's message wasn't timeless:
6Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
I'm TERRIBLE at this. I struggle so much and succeed through some parts of the day, but then the world sucks me into petty bickering, complaining, or critiquing of others. I get so bored and sick of my own verbalized frustration with things beyond my control, even things that don't impact me, yet I fail to act upon this recognition and turn my focus to God.
17Tell Archippus: "See to it that you complete the work you have received in the Lord."
How many times have you felt convicted by God along these lines? I know that I have work to do, home-work, work-work, and spiritual-work. but yet I still find myself wanting "a break" before they are done... I feel like God is speaking directly to me through Paul in an encouraging, but demanding way. Get done those things which I have asked you to do.
I wrestled in prayer this morning about what my "wound" is, stemming from Wild at Heart, a fantastic book recommended by cas. And I found that my biggest wound-s are from athletic failures, and as I've gotten older, I've moved "up" the level of competition, HS, college athletics, etc, but have always fallen just short in the end. I realized this morning that I've let myself be defined by that and have become scared to succeed. I think what God really wants me to do is just "do", not try to win, not succeed, not strive to accomplish, but instead just go out there and "do". Not in the sense of accepting failure, or being okay with "not quite good enough", but instead, just get back out on the battlefield, the REAL battlefield, between us and the Enemy, and just "do" and let Him take care of the rest.
Father, help me to complete the work that you have given me, and help us to end our salt-free conversations and instead show the world your true beauty in each of our conversations. Let us share Your love with others through our smallest actions.
In Jesus' name,
Amen
crb
Col 4
You guys pretty much covered it all. I agree with the whole team concept and just wonder how much more we could be praying for each other and our respective walks. I should speak for myself and say that I certainly need to pray more for you guys. The Lord certainly has blessed us and it is awesome to know you have guys out there praying for you.
I also can completely relate to the feeling not prepared and know though that at some point you have to stop worrying and just put yourself out there. You can not ride the wave unless you actually paddle out (had to get that little surfing metaphor in)
Father, help us represent you in all that we do. Challenge us and help to grow into the kind of brothers the draw those seeking in.
In Christ,
cas
Paul really was not the "lone ranger" for Christ. He was obedient to his death, but he shared, partnered, and encouraged so many fellow believers. timmcd6, nailed the "team" thing perfectly. I am too often trapped into this "me-Jesus-and-no-one-else" mentality because of pride or perhaps even fear/lack of trust. It is a great reminder of Paul's humility in giving and receiving help within the context of the mission of God.
cas, I too am not as prayerful for each of you. An idea I had is simply each week to send an email to the team with 1 request to be daily prayed for. That wouldn't be overwhelming and could be a good starting point/next step for us on this journey. Share your thoughts about this idea.
crb, no doubt having my response seasoned with grace is a growing edge for me. I have maintained another blog for 6 months. Currently it has been more critical than instructive. God has convicted me of my focus more and so in the future it will be relaunched as gracious resource for men and families trying to live out the Christian faith in the 21st century.
timmcd6, as far as your question on slavery, it is a great (and often asked) question. The Church both participated in and later lead the push against slavery/and ultimate erasing off slavery from the Western world. Slavery still continues in the east and in Africa sadly enough, however. I will try to get a concise answer for the question in general and then we can work from there. My time is really tight right now with a lot of new job/ministry responsibilities. Anyway, I noticed no one had commented so I wanted to let you know I read it and hopefully can get some form of an answer in the next week.
Blessings, men.
Father God, continue to lead us to know You more and more. Move our hearts to desire Your desires and pursue Your pursuits first. Thank You for leading us into so many varied vocations where we work alongside so many different people. May we be faithful to love, serve, and extend grace to those around us.
In Christ's name,
er
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