Christ Preeminent (Part Twenty-Seven): A Pattern for Praying

Transcript

JRNT 49
03/03/2024
Christ Preeminent (Part Twenty-Seven): “A Pattern for Praying”
Colossians 4:2-4
Jesse Randolph

There are a handful of topics in the realm of Christian living which tend to cause modern-day churchgoers a noticeable degree of discomfort. When a preacher preaches on one of these topics the reaction is noticeable. It’s palpable as church members will start to shift uncomfortably in their seats. Or cut their eyes across the room to see if anyone else is listening to this. Or look at their watch an inordinately high number of times. Or find an immediate interest in patterns in the church carpet on the floor beneath them. Or show a sudden fascination with the book of Obadiah as they thumb nervously through their bibles and seek to study it real quickly. Or they type out their grocery list on their phone. Or doodle. Or draw. Or, really, do anything but have to hear about that topic, again. For example, if a pastor, a preacher, really wants to bring about conviction or clear a room all he needs to do is preach in the realm of relationships. A marriage relationship, husbands love your wives, wives submit to your husbands. Sexual matters in marriage, intimacy matters. Anything related to financial stewardship, whether it relates to personal financial stewardship or the importance of giving to the local ministry of your local church. Anything related to evangelism, how essential it is, as those who have come to know God through His Son, the Light of the World, to share that light with others, as we share the gospel. Or anything in the realm of spiritual disciplines, bible reading, prayer.

It's that last one, prayer, that we’re going to be zeroing in on today. I hope it doesn’t clear the room. I hope you’ll stay as we work through our next section of Colossians. And as we do so, I recognize that this topic, prayer, can be a guilt-arousing and a conscience-provoking subject. But the case I’m going to be making from scripture this morning is that it really ought not to be that way when we consider what prayer truly is, what a privilege it is, and then the pattern God has laid out for us in scripture. In fact, that’s the title of this morning’s message, “A Pattern for Praying,” which, as we’re going to see, is derived from the pattern for prayer which the Apostle Paul, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, laid down for the first-century Colossian church, and for us, and for all Christians today.

If you’re not there already, please go ahead and turn with me in your bibles to Colossians 4 and we’re going to pick it up here in verse 2, Colossians 4:2, God’s word reads, “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; 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.”

Again, the message this morning is titled “A Pattern for Praying.” And the pattern we see Paul lay out for us in these three verses. Is really made up of four distinct yet related parts. First, we’re going to see “The Ubiquity of Prayer.” Paul there says in verse 2, “Devote yourselves to prayer.” Second, we’re going to see “The Urgency of Prayer,” when he continues on and says, “keeping alert in it.” Third, we’ll see “The Undercurrent of Prayer,” where at the end of verse 2 he says, “with an attitude of thanksgiving.” Fourth, we’re going to see “The Upshot of Prayer,” where he says, “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.” So, again, it’s “The Ubiquity of Prayer,” “The Urgency of Prayer,” “The Undercurrent of Prayer,” and “The Upshot of Prayer.”

Let’s start with “The Ubiquity of Prayer,” meaning the prevalence of prayer, the pervasiveness of prayer, the primacy of prayer. I really wanted to try my hand at alliterating with a more difficult letter this week, so I went with a “U”, “The Ubiquity of Prayer.” Now, before we plow forward with our text, let it be noted that the Apostle Paul was no doubt a man who practiced what he preached. He’s about to tell the Colossians and all of us as Christians that we are to be devoted, to devote ourselves to prayer. But it’s not like the Apostle Paul is some sort of floating head out there in the clouds, or a monk dispensing mountaintop oracles, or a Christian version of the Buddha who was dispensing a series of spiritual-sounding cliches from on high. No, not at all. Rather, the Apostle Paul was a man who backed up his writings with his life, who lived out what he proclaimed, who recognized, as he even said in 1 Corinthians 15:10, that it’s “by the grace of God I am what I am.” Paul was a man encased in flesh, just like you and I. He was a man who stumbled, he was a man who sinned, he was a man who desired to be done with sin. He was a man who desired to be with the Lord. That’s what he says in Philippians 1:21 “to live is Christ and to die is gain.” But in the meantime, he recognized his total and utter dependency on the Lord. A dependency which shines forth through the prayers he prayed as recorded on the pages of scripture.

Paul was a remarkable man of prayer. In fact, think back with me, and turn with me, if you would, to Colossians 1, what we said many months ago now. Where we see in Colossians 1:3 how Paul here declares that he was “praying always” for the Colossians. Verse 3, “We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you.” In other words, prayer was not this occasional practice for Paul. It was a frequent practice, a continuous practice, a ubiquitous practice. Not only that though, the prayers Paul prayed weren’t shallow prayers, Lord, bless the food, Lord, bless my rest, bless my travels, bless my family, bless my lawn, bless my 401K. Give me all of what I want, when I want it, how I want it, amen. No, his prayers were deep. In his prayers, he sought to extol God, he sought to exalt Christ. He sought to expand the reach of the gospel, and build up fellow believers in Christ in their service to Him.

In fact, we see the depths of his prayers, just down a page in Colossians 1, look at verse 9, this is a recorded prayer of Paul. Colossians 1:9, he says, “For this reason also, since the day we heard of it,” meaning their faith, “we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” You’re not supposed to use run-on sentences, but in Paul’s case, with prayer, it’s ok.

It wasn’t just for Colossae, though, that Paul prayed prayers like these. Consider just a few of these other prayers of Paul. I’m just going to read off a few for you, and as I do so, consider their depth. Consider the depth of these prayers, and what they reveal about Paul being a man greatly used of God, who practiced what he preached. Romans 1:9, it says, “For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you, always in my prayers.” Ephesians 1:15 says, “For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your loved for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers.” Philippians 1:3-4, “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all.” 1 Thessalonians 1:2, “We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers.” 2 Timothy 1:3, “I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day.” Philemon 4, “I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints.”

Now, this is one of those moments where we’re sitting there or I’m standing here, and in many cases, and in many churches, when a text like our text today is preached, the people start checking out. The people start getting defensive, the people start digging their heels in, the people start backpedaling. They’ll encounter Paul’s prayers here, as recorded in scripture, and start thinking to themselves, “Well, that was then, this is now, Paul was an apostle and I’m just an ordinary Christian. Paul had the very Holy Spirit of God guiding him in every prayer that he prayed, the ones we see here in the bible, I don’t have that. I don’t have time like Paul apparently did, to devote hours and hours every day to praying. I’ve got a job, I’ve got a family, I’ve got bills to pay, I’ve got a life to live.” And then other believers will start feeling hopeless, “There’s no way I could ever pray like Paul.” Others will start making excuses, “God knows my heart.” Others will start leaning on inherent theological tensions, that are admittedly there in scripture. They’ll say things like, “Well, why do I need to pray anyway? God is sovereign, you keep preaching on the sovereignty of God, Jesse, He’s going to do what He’s going to do. He’s already foreordained and predestined all things anyway, so why do I need to pray?”

Now, to those objections, and to those concerns, and to those worries, I would simply say this, let’s allow the word to teach us. Scripture sets our agenda here this morning. Not our personal feelings of inadequacy or guilt. Not even my desires as your pastor that you would all grow more faithful as praying people. No. Scripture sets our agenda. And what we’re going to see here this morning from scripture is that while the word will certainly convict us on this subject of prayer, God hasn’t given us what He’s given us in scripture about prayer to crush us, to hammer us, or to dishearten us. Rather, what we have here in our text for today is a divinely given pattern for praying, a pattern which any follower of Christ can lay down over their life and put into practice, little by little, step by step, day by day, month by month, year over year.

With that let’s turn back to our text, Colossians 4:2. And Paul starts this way, he says, “Devote yourselves to prayer.” Now, that word “devote” means to be busily engaged in, to give constant attention to, to be diligent in. “Devote yourselves to prayer.” This level of devotion is what we see modeled by the very first apostles of Christ. I won’t have time to turn there right now, but in Acts 1 [verses 13,14], we see that scene where they go up to the upper room. And it says, “they went up to the upper room,” these were the twelve apostles, “where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.” Then it says, “These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer.” So, we see it modeled back then.

You get up to Acts 6 where you get the apostles there who were saying, we have to start delegating some of this table-waiting authority to others. In Acts 6:2-4 it says, “So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, ‘It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables. Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task. But we,” these are the apostles, “will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
Devote, same word. That same devotion to prayer was modeled by the first three thousand converts. In Acts 2:41 it says, “So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.” This is after Peter’s sermon at Pentecost. And then it says, “They were continually devoting themselves,” there’s our word, “to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”

This devotion to prayer was modeled by early believers and early churches in these early cities, as the gospel began to go forth. Romans 12 [verse 12] says of the Christians there, that they were “devoted to prayer.” In Ephesians 6:18, the Christians at Ephesus are encouraged to “pray at all times in the Spirit.”
And here’s an interesting one, the Christians at Thessalonica in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 were told to “pray without ceasing.” Now, those words, “without ceasing”, that’s really insightful. Because the Greek term there, it’s meaning in the times that Paul lived was used in other settings to refer to a person who had a persistent cough. Not somebody who coughed once or twice loudly, and cleared their throat, and they were all done with it. But somebody who was coughing at frequent intervals, that nagging cough that they can’t get rid of. I hear a few of them here this morning. That’s the idea of praying without ceasing. Or in the language of Colossians 4:2, to be devoted to prayer. To be someone who is praying at frequent intervals, to be praying habitually, to be praying faithfully, to be praying steadfastly. This is describing a person who doesn’t merely pray here at church on Sundays, or at mealtimes, or with about as much frequency as they give the “Pledge of Allegiance.” Rather, this is like breathing to them, prayer is like breathing to them. It shows that they are spiritually alive, that they have a spiritual pulse, they can’t do without it.

Ok, the follower of Christ is to be devoted, occupied, diligent about, engaged in, tenacious in, prayer. It’s a simple enough concept to grasp. But practically, what does it look like? Turn over with me, if you would, to Romans 13, Romans 13, as we seek to build and flesh out what it means to be devoted to prayer. I want to take us to a passage that, for those of you who are good bible students, you’re probably wondering why am I taking you to Romans 13? Isn’t this about the Christian’s duty to obey governing authorities? Yes, it is. But there’s an important word and an important concept here, that’s going to build out our theology of prayer here this morning. Look at Romans 13, we’ll pick up in verse 1 to get the context. It says, “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’ sake.”

And you’re wondering still, what in the world does this have to do with prayer? Read verse 6, “For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God,” look at this word here, devoting themselves to this very thing.” Were first-century government officials devoted to collecting tax revenue from their subjects? Let’s bring it to today. Are twenty-first century government officials devoted to collecting tax revenues from their subjects? Anybody want to give an ‘amen’ to that? Well, maybe not an ‘amen,’ maybe throw a shoe. There’s no doubt about it. And what an illustration that is for all of us. In the same way that state, federal, local officials are persistent, devoted to collecting tax revenues, we are to be persistent in and devoted to praying. Christians are, in a real sense, to pay our taxes and say our prayers.

But it’s not just ‘saying our prayers,’ is it? Even saying it that way, “Did you say your prayers?” sounds so mechanical, it sounds so routine. Like a hoop we don’t want to, but have to jump through. Like a box we don’t want to, but have to check. Like something we have to do to stay on God’s good side. By paying taxes we stay on Uncle Sam’s good side. But what a hollow and horrible way to think about prayer. Prayer isn’t an I-have-to discipline. It’s not an I-have-to practice. It’s an I-get-to practice. I get to, Hebrews 4:16, “draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that [I] may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” I get to pray. I get to pray as one who has been rescued by God and brought into the family of God. I get to pray as one who has been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ. I get to pray as I walk in the Spirit knowing that God’s Spirit will always drive me to pray in alignment with God’s will as it’s revealed in His word. I get to pray knowing that my prayers are fearful to Satan, the god of this world, the father of lies. I get to pray knowing that God hears and I get to pray, knowing that God answers. And I get to pray knowing that God accomplishes His perfect will through what I offer to Him in prayer. What an amazing privilege we have as believers to come into the presence of God through our high priest in the heavens, the Lord Jesus Christ. To talk to Him, to cry out to Him, and to pray to Him and to do so in the devoted manner.

That was our first point, “The Ubiquity of Prayer.” All Christians, verse 2, are to “devote themselves to prayer.” Now, as we continue on in verse 2 here of Colossians 4, we come upon this next aspect of the pattern of praying that we see here in our text, which is urgency. That’s our second point here this morning, “The Urgency of Prayer.” The heart of the command here is to “devote yourselves to prayer.” And then come these words, “keeping alert in it.” Keeping alert in what? Keeping alert in prayer. Followers of Christ are to keep alert in our devoted lives of prayer.

Now, there are a number of different tributaries, streams of thought, that we can go down here to get a sense of all that is rolled into this idea of “keeping alert” in our prayers. First, is the obvious one. There’s the physical component, meaning, that there’s an aspect of “keeping alert” which simply means to stay awake, to keep your eyelids open, to refrain from snoozing while you pray. This is the aspect of maybe don’t pick the La-Z-Boy at 11:30 p.m. to be your consecrated prayer time. This is the don’t get too ambitious about all the praying you’re going to do, when you’re sick and with a cold and are on a regimen of NyQuil. Instead, pick a time and a spot to pray to the Lord, that’s going to be most effective for you. Maybe it’s by your bedside in the morning, maybe it’s on your morning walk, maybe it’s in conjunction with your devotional reading of the bible, maybe it’s as you drive to and from your job, maybe it’s after you eat dinner in the evening. This is one of those areas, where as a pastor, I cannot and will not lay down a law for you. Because only you know when you’re most alert, physically alert, so that you can keep alert in your prayers. So, there’s a physical side to it.

There’s also, and importantly, a spiritual aspect of being alert. As Christians, we’re to be watchful, alert, awake, on guard, vigilant, about a number of different items. Church elders are called not only to be aware of and familiar with what constitutes sound doctrine. They are to be alert and on guard against the false and heretical teachings that may creep into any church. That’s the charge that Paul gave the Ephesian elders over in Acts 20:28, where he says, “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. I know,” says Paul, “that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be on the alert.” So, elders are called to be alert.

That’s not just for elders, that’s for all Christians, we’re all called to be spiritually alert. 1 Corinthians 16:13, speaking of our daily walk with the Lord, says, “Be on the alert” and “stand firm in the faith.” And as Christians, we’re to be alert, to stay awake, to stay ready for any spiritual attack which might come our way from Satan. 1 Peter 5:8 says, he “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” That sounds like somebody we want to be on the alert for and against. Ephesians 6:16 says, we are to be “taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” We can’t hold a shield, either physically or spiritually, if you’re sleeping. In fact, this is exactly what Jesus rebuked His disciples for back in the garden of Gethsemane in Matthew 26, their state of slumber and sleepiness. In fact, turn with me, if you would, over to Matthew 26, on this topic of being spiritually alert and awake and on guard and vigilant. Matthew 26:36 says, “Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, ‘Sit here while I go over there and pray.’ And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. Then He said to them, ‘My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.’ And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will. 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? Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak’.” Did you catch that language? “Keep watching and praying.” Why? “That you may not enter into temptation.” Since “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Another aspect of spiritual alertness as modeled there by our Lord to His disciples.

Here’s the last one on this topic of spiritual alertness, and this is a significant one. Why else do we need to be spiritually alert? Well, we need to be spiritually alert because our Lord, this same Lord, is coming back! The imminency of our Lord’s return is all over the scriptures. And when we see the fact of Christ’s one-day return mentioned in the scriptures it’s often coupled with this command to believers to remain alert. I’ll give you just a few here.
Matthew 25:13 says, “Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.”
Luke 21:36 says, “But keep on the alert at all times.”
1 Thessalonians, moving to the epistles, 5:4-6. 1 Thessalonians 5 is all about the return of Christ. It says, “But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.”
And then there’s this letter from Christ Himself written to the church at Sardis through the Apostle John in Revelation 3:2-3. He says to that church, “Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.” So, back to Colossians, one of the ways we as believers keep alert in our praying is simply by looking to the sky with anticipation and praying with frequency, “Maranatha! Come quickly, Lord Jesus.”

So those are some of the ways as followers of Christ, Colossians 4:2 here, that we keep alert in our prayers. Meaning no more careless, mechanical prayers, no more dull and heavy prayers, no more dead and sleepy prayers. Instead, a life of alert, watchful praying, with our gaze ultimately fixed on the Preeminent One, the One who conquered death and sin through the cross, the One who is coming again, the Lord Jesus Christ. Reminds you of Hebrews 12:2, that we are to be, not only in our prayers, but in all things, “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.”

We’ve looked at “The Ubiquity of Prayer,” that was “devote yourselves to prayer.” We’ve looked at “The Urgency of Prayer,” “keeping alert in it.” Next, we’re going to consider “The Undercurrent of Prayer,” which we pick up in the last few words here of verse 2, “The Undercurrent of Prayer,” which is tied to these words, “with an attitude of thanksgiving.” Followers of Jesus Christ are to pray “with an attitude of thanksgiving.”

Now, a little personal, anecdotal story, if I may, if you’ll indulge me. I have to say that this specific part of this passage was a helpful reminder and challenge and rebuke to yours truly this week. See, a guy goes off to seminary, a guy like me, and we get to read all these great books, written by these great men, who did these great works for God. As great works of God were done through them. And these great works of God are inevitably accomplished by the prayers of His people. So, we read all these great books, books like “The Power of Prayer” by R.A. Torrey. And in many of these books, there’s not only the positive take: look how amazing these works of God were during these times when people were praying, where revivals were started, like the revival of 1857 through a businessman’s prayer lunch. But then there’s also the negative take where in these books there’ll be this bemoaning: like those were the glory days, that was then and this is now, nowadays there’s a famine in the land. And when you get to the negative parts of these books about things were once so great as God brought about real change and revival among churches and Christians in the land, there’s often a section where that author bemoans the decline of, if not the death of, the midweek prayer meeting.

Spurgeon, for instance, said this, “in the name of all that is good and great let us do extraordinary things, but somehow we must keep up the prayer-meetings, for they are at the very secret source of power with God and with men.” Well, being a guy who would love to see the Lord continue to do great things and great works for His glory here at Indian Hills, last year, late last year, I said, let’s schedule monthly prayer meetings, let’s do them in January and February. And we’ve had two of those so far in January and February. And let’s just say, those meetings have been lightly attended. I would even say, very lightly attended. See where I’m going? And frankly, confession time, it’s been a bit of a disappointment and a bit of a discouragement to an admittedly ambitious pastor like myself. And while I’ve been tempted to say something, tempted to get out the shepherds’ crook and bonk a couple of sheep on the nose, I’m really glad I didn’t. Because the Lord landed us in this text this week, Colossians 4:2. Which tells us what? That the Lord’s pattern for prayer is not robust attendance at a Wednesday night prayer meeting because pastor Jesse says so. It doesn’t say that does it? Does your bible say that? Mine doesn’t. No.

The Lord’s pattern for prayer is that each and every one of you here this morning who call yourself a follower of Jesus Christ would “Devote yourselves to prayer,” whatever that looks like, “keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.” And that last part, “with an attitude of thanksgiving,” really is key. Because if we’re not careful we can find ourselves praying prayers and even attending Wednesday night prayer meetings with the wrong attitude. Out of a sense of duty, out of a sense of guilt, out of a sense of ought-to, rather than doing what God’s word tells us and following what God’s word tells us. Which is that our prayers, whether offered individually or collectively, ought to be the overflow of supremely thankful hearts. That’s Colossians 1:11-12, is says, we are to be “joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.”

And as Christians, of course, we of all people have every reason to be extraordinarily thankful. As we reflect on the depths of the sin which once enslaved us, the debt we owed to the God who made us, the punishment in hell that awaited us. As we reflect on God’s plan of redemption and salvation which He designed and foreordained before the foundation of the world. As we reflect on the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on our behalf on the cross, His real human body being pierced for our transgressions, His sacred head being wounded on our account, His precious blood being shed for us. We reflect on the resurrection of Christ, through which He certified His claims to the Son of God, through which He declared His victory over Satan, through which He secured eternal life for all who would believe upon His name. It's because of those truths, about who we now are in Christ, and the thankfulness that those truths should breed, that we should be, and ought to be, a people who are devoted to prayer.
That’s the engine. That’s the motivation. That’s what leads us with right motivations to cry out to, with frequency, with regularity to the living God. And pray to Him in a devoted manner.

Back to our text. We’ve seen “The Ubiquity of Prayer,” “Devote yourselves to prayer.” We’ve seen “The Urgency of Prayer,” “keeping alert in it.” We’ve seen “The Undercurrent of Prayer,” “with an attitude of thanksgiving.”

Last, as we turn to verses 3-4, we’re going to see “The Upshot of Prayer.” Look at verses 3 and 4 again, Paul is getting personal here again, he says, “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; that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.” So, what we have here is Paul pivoting from these various statements we’ve just worked through, about the regularity of prayer that the Christians at Colossae were to engage in; the watchfulness and the alertness with which they were to offer those prayers; the attitude and the heart-level motivations with which they were to pray. And now, Paul is changing gears here, and he’s now essentially giving the Colossians his prayer list.

That’s what we see at the very beginning of verse 3, he says, “praying at the same time for us as well.” Now, that alone is significant and important for us to recognize. Paul the Apostle, spiritually-mature man that he was, recognized how desperately he needed the prayers of others. Paul had no shame in asking for the prayers of others. Quite the opposite. He recognizes, “I need prayer.” Reminds me of the story of Charles Spurgeon, the prince of preachers, I almost said international man of mystery, but no, internationally renowned preacher of his day. And somebody asked him what was the secret of his success, in earthly terms, how he had got such a wide crowd, audience, following. And he said very simply, “My people pray for me.”

That’s the idea here with Paul. He understood he needed the people, people that were under his care, to pray for him. And what a helpful reminder that is to all of us. That no matter how far you think you’ve advanced in the Christian life, no matter how much bible you know, no matter how much theology you’ve retained, no matter how many years you’ve come to this church, no matter how smooth the waters of life seem to be, you always have something to pray for and you always have something you need prayer for. You always need prayer, we all do. So, when it comes to your turn in the bible study or in the prayer circle and you speak up and say, “Actually, this week, I’m good, I don’t need prayer,” you’re wrong. You’re not telling the truth and if you’re not telling the truth, what are you doing? Lying. How can I say that? Well, I can say that because you’re still here and you, like me, you’re still an imperfect sinner. Just like all of us. And you need prayer just like all of us. And if you can’t think of the ways that you need prayer, in a setting like that, or in any other setting, it may be, going back to verse 2 here, that you’re not a “devoted” person of prayer in your own right. It may be that you aren’t “alert” in your own spiritual state and condition. It may be that you don’t have that “attitude of thanksgiving” that we’re all called to have. Because if you were any of those things, devoted, alert, or thankful, surely you’d have something to seek prayer for, surely you’d have something to praise God for.
Well, Paul recognized this and so, he sought not only prayer for himself here, but for his ministry associates. He sought prayer; it says, pray for us. He’s talking about Timothy, and Epaphras, and possibly all these names listed at the end of Colossians 4.

Moving on in verse 3, we see that Paul not only sought prayer for himself and his ministry companions. Look at the nature of this prayer. The prayers Paul prayed, the prayers Paul sought were of eternal value and significance. Paul wasn’t asking for prayer for healing, for Uncle Tom’s broken foot, or that the Jello salad would make it safely to the family potluck this afternoon. He wasn’t seeking prayer like our cute little four-year old Asher will say. He’s got the same prayer every night, “I pray that everybody has a wonderful time.” That wasn’t Paul’s prayer that everybody have a wonderful time. No. His prayer was three-fold. First, that the word would do its work. Second, the gospel would go forth. And third, that he would get out of the way. Those were Paul’s prayers here. Note the tremendous focus, hat the valuable, eternally-significant requests he’s raising here. We’ll work through these, one by one.

First, Paul sought prayer that the word would do its work. Look at verse 3, he says: “praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word.” Now, that phrase, “open a door,” is one that we see in many different earlier New Testament writings. In Acts 14:27, for instance, it refers to an opening for an opportunity for the gospel to reach the Gentiles. Acts 14:27 says, “When they had arrived and gathered the church together, they began to report all the things that God had done with them and how He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.” In 1 Corinthians 16:9, Paul reported, that “a wide door for effective service has opened to me.” In 2 Corinthians 2:12, Paul there said, “a door was opened for me in the Lord” at Troas. And now, here in Colossians years later, Paul is requesting that the Colossians would pray for him, specifically that God would “open up to [Paul and his associates] a door for the word.”

Now, this is really important to latch on to here, especially in our name-it-and-claim-it, God is just this divine genie-in-a-bottle. And we just rub the lamp, and He gives-us-what-we-want kind of world that we live in today. There was an obvious door that Paul could have asked in prayer for God to open. Which was what? The prison door that he was behind. Colossians is a prison epistle. He was living in prison, as he writes this letter, so, he very easily could have said, “God, take this door and sling it open.” And we know that happens in other settings. He’s wearing shackles, he’s chained to a Roman guard. If there was anyone in our modern vernacular, name-it-and-claim-it, and say, “Lord, open this door and set me free,” it would have been Paul. But that’s not what we see him doing, is it? No. He says, pray “that God will open up to us a door for the word.

Now, bringing that over to our context today. In whatever difficult situation you might find yourself in right now in the phase of life, season of life, you’re in right now -- a difficult loss, a crushing financial trial, a relational bomb that just dropped, a terminal medical diagnosis. What do your prayers look like? “Open this door” and get me out of here? “Open this door” Lord, and spare me from this anguish? “Open this door” Lord, and prevent me from having to walk through this? Or, instead, as Paul models for us here, and patterns for us here -- “Lord, through this trial, open up a door for the word, through this, Lord, help me share the truth of your word with others.”

Back to our text, verse 3, Paul sought prayer, not only that the Lord would open up a door for the word. Secondly, he also sought prayer that through his labors the gospel would go forth.
Look at the end of verse 3, he says, “so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned.” Now, the “mystery of Christ”, as we’ve already seen in our study of Colossians is referring to the message revealed by God through Paul, His chosen apostle to the Gentiles. That salvation was now available to Jew and Gentile alike on the basis of Christ’s saving work. In fact, why don’t you go over to Colossians 1 for review here. This is the mystery that Paul is speaking of in Colossians 4. Look at Colossians 1:25, he says, “Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

So, back to Colossians 4, the mystery that Paul sought to preach, for which he was seeking prayer, was Christ -- who He was, who He is, what He accomplished on the cross -- and how now, both Jew and Gentile had become one in Christ through faith in Him. It’s that very message that Paul felt compelled to preach, the message of Christ and the gospel going out to the world. That’s why he says in 1 Corinthians 9:16, “woe is me if I do not preach the gospel.”
And it’s this very message that we see at the end of verse 3 that led to Paul being thrown into prison in the first place. He says, “for which,” meaning that gospel message, “I have also been imprisoned.” Because he was obviously physically restricted in his ability to get the gospel out, being imprisoned, he needed help, he needed God’s help, he needed the Colossians’ help through their prayers.

Finally, we turn to Paul’s third request for prayer from the Colossians. He sought prayer as doors opened up for the word. He sought prayers as the mystery of the gospel of Christ went out and was proclaimed. He sought prayer, thirdly, that he would get out of the way. Look at verse 4, he was seeking prayer, “that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.”
Did you catch that? Especially you here who are young teachers, young preachers, young evangelists. The Apostle Paul’s aim here was not to sound clever or deep or profound or relatable or influential. The aim of the Apostle Paul here was not to rattle off all the theology he knew, or all the commentaries he’d read, or all the debates he’d won. What did Paul seek here as he proclaimed the mystery of Christ? He sought prayer that he would be clear. He recognized that in his audience, in his preaching, in his circle of influence, there would be ordinary people, simple people, common people. And so, he wanted to preach Christ clearly, simply. At this point, in his ministry as he’s seeking to win people over to Christ he’s not concerned with whether they’re right now going to be won over to a pre-trib rapture position, or a six-day creation position, or if they were using the NASB or the New Legacy Standard Bible, he wasn’t trying to win them over to dispensational theology. He was simply asking the Lord to open a door to talk to others about Jesus Christ. That’s what he sought prayer for at this phase of his ministry.

And apparently those prayers were answered. A few reasons why we can say that… Acts 28, Acts 28 says he stayed two full years. This is Acts 28:30, “he stayed two full years, “speaking of Paul, “in his own rented quarters and was welcoming all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered.”
So, he’s preaching. Prayers are being answered as he’s preaching to those who come to visit him. He said something very similar, Paul did, in Philippians. Philippians 1:12, he says, “Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances,” meaning his imprisonment, “have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else.” And of course, there’s this fact, that here we are, you and I, sitting a couple thousand years after this on the opposite end of the world reading Paul’s letter that he wrote to the Colossians. I’d say that’s evidence that these prayers were answered. That this letter was preserved and that here we are, reading it and being transformed into the image of Christ through it. So, were the Colossians’ prayers for Paul answered? I’d say they were.

What an encouragement Paul’s example is to each of us. To seek prayer from other believers for that open door for the proclamation of the word, for opportunities to see the mystery of Christ proclaimed, and proclaimed clearly no matter the cost.
So, we’ve seen this morning “The Ubiquity of Prayer,” “The Urgency of Prayer,” “The Undercurrent of Prayer,” and just now, “The Upshot of Prayer.”

Last verse, last word, goes to 2 Thessalonians 3:1, “Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also with you.”

Now, we’re going to transition to the Communion part of our service here this morning where we’re going to commemorate the sacrificial death of our Lord. And as we’ve seen, as we’ve been studying our text this morning, we don’t “devote [ourselves] to prayer” from a place of dry duty or just rote observation of a ritual. Instead, as we saw in Colossians 4:2, we pray with this “attitude of thanksgiving,” an attitude which should not only pervade our prayers, but each and every aspect of our lives in Christ. And with this time of Communion is an opportunity to express our thankfulness, our gratitude, for the completed work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

That’s what we’re doing right now, remembering and reflecting upon the death of Christ as we prepare to partake in Communion. And that message, that attitude of thanksgiving, that we’re all to have -- that stems ultimately from the message of the gospel, the message of hope, the message that ultimately led to us becoming saved. That message, the gospel message, begins with God. And if you’re new here, I really want you to lock in and hear this, because you need to know this. And even if you’re not new here, we need to know this.

That the whole gospel message begins with God and God’s character, God’s nature, God’s characteristics, God’s perfections. We need to know that God has revealed Himself in the word as being a God who is holy, transcendent, righteous, perfect in all His ways. And on account of His holiness, God hates sin. God is patient with us at the same time. So, God would have every right in His holiness to smite us, strike us, and destroy us, even today, because of what has happened to us through our sin. But He’s patient, He’s merciful, and He’s a God of love. And I’ve skipped something very important, which is that God is holy. God is righteous. God is just. But we are sinners. We are born in sin, conceived in sin. We do sin, in our lives, practically, and the wages of sin is death. But praise the Lord, God is patient, God is merciful, and God is a God of love. And God demonstrated His own love toward mankind most powerfully in the sending of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ into this world. God sent His Son, the Lord, on a mission. And that mission was to die, to stand in the place of sinners like you and me at the cross of Calvary to pay for our sins, to shed His own innocent blood and ultimately to die on our behalf.

And so, when we partake of these elements of Communion, what we’re doing here really, is remembering and reflecting and, in a certain sense, rejoicing with gratitude, by all that has been done for us. As we consider who we once were in our sin. As we consider the great debt that we owe to this holy God that we had incurred on account of our sin. As we consider the sure and terrifying wrath of God which would have fallen on our heads because of our sin. And as we consider the finished work of Christ on the cross to pay for our sin. And how, through His death, He really did pay in full the debt of our sin. So that our sins could be forgiven. So that our relationship with that holy God could be rightly restored. And so that we could have the hope of eternal life secured. That’s it in a nutshell, the gospel, the good news, the “euangelion,” the good news of what God has done for sinners like you and me through Jesus Christ.

God, we are reminded of the price of our redemption, the shed blood of Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, on our behalf, so that we might have our sins paid for, forgiveness accomplished, eternal life secured. As we go about this day and remember the price of our redemption, may we not treat it in a cavalier or lighthearted manner. May it do something to us, as we go about our lives as ambassadors for the One who died for us, but also, the One who rose, the One who ascended, and the One who is coming again. God, may we remember that the price of redemption was paid for us. Not so we would be stagnant, not that we would live the same lives we once lived, not so that we would go backwards in terms of the direction of our lives. But so that we would move forward in faith as renewed, redeemed, ransomed followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. May our lives be a testimony of the work You have done in our lives as Your followers, as Your children. And it all goes back to the price paid on the cross at Calvary, to the shed blood of Christ. We give You thanks and praise for that steep price that was paid for us because You love us. May we show that love now to You and to others. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.