Three Areas of Christian Life - Colossians 4:2
Three Areas of Christian Life - Colossians 4:2
By Pastor Lee Hemen
November 18, 2007
How would you say goodbye to someone that you wanted to impart some good advice to before they left? You know what mean, kind of like when a parent sees their child off to college for the first time. What “wisdom” do you send them off with that you hope will stick in their minds for more than a nanosecond? In the verse we will look at this morning we find Paul doing just this. He is summing up his letter to the church at Colossae and wants to impart some kind of wisdom that would stick with them afterwards.
Jesus does this as well with His disciples. Jesus gave them the foundational truth for salvation and how they were to live as Christians. In a grand summation to the Pharisees, who wanted to entrap Him by asking, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus responds, not with a specific “command” but with a condensed summation: “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…’ and the second is… ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments!” (Matthew 22:37-40) The Old Testament develops these two points of loving God and loving others! Meanwhile, we discover that Paul gives us a wonderful summation in three areas of Christian life. Let’s discover what they are…
READ: Colossians 4:2
Succinctness does not necessarily mean simplicity. While this verse is short, it carries with it a tremendous amount of discipline for the believer. The first area of the Christian life should be…
I. Prayer!
1. We discover that “One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When He finished, one of His disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” (Luke 11:1) Was prayer important to Jesus? I believe so. Jesus prayed at every major point in His life: At His baptism (3:21) and when choosing His disciples (6:12). He often prayed alone (5:16; 9:18) and also with others (9:28-29). He prayed for Peter (22:32), and in the garden before His betrayal (22:40-44). He even prayed on the cross (23:46)! So important was prayer to Jesus, He reminds His followers, “When you pray…” 1) Do not be like a hypocrite, 2) Do it in all humility realizing that it is a personal and private conversation with God, and 3) Do not “babble” on and on with vain words that carry no meaning for you or for God! (Luke 6:5-8) John was so impacted by Jesus’ teaching on prayer, he would write: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” (1 John 5:14) Jesus taught persistent in prayer. Christians are to “seek,” “ask,” and “knock” in prayer! In fact, like a determined widow who seeks justice, Jesus asked, “Will not God bring about justice for His chosen ones, who cry out to Him day and night... He will see that they get justice, and quickly!” He continued by asking, “However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” Meaning, will His “chosen ones” be in prayer? (Luke 18:6-8) Christians may not know exactly what to pray, but Paul teaches us that “the Spirit helps us in our weakness,” and “the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express!” (Romans 8:26) This is why later Paul would admonish his readers to “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” (Romans 12:12) The Christian life should be one of prayer.
EXAMPLE: Rather than prayer seekers, too many believers are prayer “plotters.” We are guilty of plotting our prayers to gain our wishes. Kind of like what James describes when he wrote, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” (James 4:3) We live in a society that is motivated by what it wants rather than seeking first the kingdom of God. Selfishness rules the lives of many Christians. When I first became a believer, I wanted to be like the great Christians of the past who had made an impact for God in the world. So, I asked the Lord to make me like them. It sounded like a noble request, but I began to realize it was actually a self-centered prayer. I began to look where God was working and asking if I should join Him there. This is not an unusual thing for us to do. Often when we are young and immature we desire the prowess of others we want to emulate. It is sad however when all we desire from our prayer life is for God to become our personal. Requests for health, healing, success, or even spirituality are not wrong, but they can become selfish prayers if they do not flow from a heart determined to “seek first” His “kingdom and righteousness.” Seeking what God desires enables us to fully experience His presence as we pray. The Christian life should be one of prayer.
In this verse, Paul relates that the second area of the Christian life should be found in…
II. Being Watchful!
1. Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak. (Matthew 26:41) One of Jesus’ last requests was for His disciples to “watch and pray,” and sadly they could not and they fell asleep. It is a poignant moment but it also carries with it the reason why Christians are to be watchful. Evil desires a foot hold in your life. Jesus warned that “false prophets” would come in “sheep’s clothing,” looking and sounding good but in reality are like “ferocious wolves” on the inside. (Matthew 7:15) In fact, He related, “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.” (Matthew 24:4-5) Christians are also admonished to “keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come!” (Matthew 24:42) Which is the idea of us being aware of your faith walk and mindful that Jesus can return anytime and you “do not know the day or the hour!” (Matthew 25:13) But you are also to “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions,” (Luke12:15) because the things of this world can keep us from following Jesus. We are to “watch” ourselves concerning sin, especially if it influences others! We could cause someone to stumble and it would be better “to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around” our “neck” than to do so! (Luke 17:1-3) This is why Paul would say that as a Christian you should “Watch your life and doctrine closely,” (1 Timothy 4:16) because you can influence others with your words and actions! The Christian therefore should be watchful of their lives in Christ.
EXAMPLE: Too few Christians today stand guard over their lives. I recently asked our youth a simple question that involved physics: “If I take a roll of tape and drop it, what will happen?” I got several silly answers, until I told them to “be serious” and I continued to ask the same question over and over. Presently several of them related, “It will fall to the ground.” In fact, the law of gravity tells me that this is true. No matter how many times I dropped that roll of tape, it will fall to the ground. Some philosophers that will try to convince you that there just might be a time when it will not or that what you see is not actually what is taking place. However, no philosophical reinterpretation of the law of gravity negates the effect it has on objects. The same kind of nonsense is often tried by those who are not careful with their faith walk. Any excuse will do for them to explain their weak walk with God. This is why Jesus warned: “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father,” when He will return. We are to “Be on guard! Be alert!” Because we “do not know when that time will come.” (Mark 13:32-33) While we wait, Peter reminds us to “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8) The Christian therefore should be watchful of their lives in Christ.
The third area of the Christian life should be found in…
III. Being thankful!
1. You are the light of the world…. let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16) Christians are to be the light in a sin darkened world. We do this through our attitudes and actions by allowing God’s Spirit to live through us. Paul would admonish: “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.” (Colossians 3:15) If Jesus’ peace rules your life, thankfulness will be evident in everything you do. “All this is for your benefit,” Paul would say, “so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God!” (2 Corinthians 4:15) Our entire life should be one that brings glory to God and praise to His name. When the Christian is outwardly thankful and generous with their lives, they receive a harvest whereby they are “made rich in every way so that [Christians] can be generous on every occasion” which “will result in thanksgiving to God.” (2 Corinthians 9:11) In fact, in the life of a Christian there should not be any “obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving,” (Ephesians 5:4) Paul knew that when an attitude of thankfulness permeated the life of a Christian, “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6) A Christian’s life should be one of thankfulness.
EXAMPLE: Many want others to be thankful to them, but few are truly thankful of the blessings they receive from others or the Lord. Thankfulness is an attitude of the heart that is a choice a person makes. You decide if you are going to be thankful or not. No one else can make you thankful nor can God change your thankless attitude unless you allow Him to. I always laugh when I read the final chapter of Jonah. In a sulky huff, Jonah goes and sits down east of the city of Nineveh that he wanted to see destroyed, but in His mercy God rescued. The sun is hot and Jonah is in discomfort from its heat, so God in His kindness grows a vine for Jonah for shade. “But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, ‘It would be better for me to die than to live.’” How pathetic is that? God reminds Jonah he has no right to be angry over something he did not create. How ungrateful! Yet, we are too often like Jonah. Angry with God and others that we did not get what we thought we “deserved.” In reality, we should be thankful for what God has given us. Our thankfulness should be expressed in all we do, think, or say. A Christian’s life should be one of thankfulness.
Conclusion:
The Christian should be found in prayer, the Christian should be found being watchful, and the Christian should be found being thankful. Are you?
By Pastor Lee Hemen
November 18, 2007
How would you say goodbye to someone that you wanted to impart some good advice to before they left? You know what mean, kind of like when a parent sees their child off to college for the first time. What “wisdom” do you send them off with that you hope will stick in their minds for more than a nanosecond? In the verse we will look at this morning we find Paul doing just this. He is summing up his letter to the church at Colossae and wants to impart some kind of wisdom that would stick with them afterwards.
Jesus does this as well with His disciples. Jesus gave them the foundational truth for salvation and how they were to live as Christians. In a grand summation to the Pharisees, who wanted to entrap Him by asking, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus responds, not with a specific “command” but with a condensed summation: “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…’ and the second is… ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments!” (Matthew 22:37-40) The Old Testament develops these two points of loving God and loving others! Meanwhile, we discover that Paul gives us a wonderful summation in three areas of Christian life. Let’s discover what they are…
READ: Colossians 4:2
Succinctness does not necessarily mean simplicity. While this verse is short, it carries with it a tremendous amount of discipline for the believer. The first area of the Christian life should be…
I. Prayer!
1. We discover that “One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When He finished, one of His disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” (Luke 11:1) Was prayer important to Jesus? I believe so. Jesus prayed at every major point in His life: At His baptism (3:21) and when choosing His disciples (6:12). He often prayed alone (5:16; 9:18) and also with others (9:28-29). He prayed for Peter (22:32), and in the garden before His betrayal (22:40-44). He even prayed on the cross (23:46)! So important was prayer to Jesus, He reminds His followers, “When you pray…” 1) Do not be like a hypocrite, 2) Do it in all humility realizing that it is a personal and private conversation with God, and 3) Do not “babble” on and on with vain words that carry no meaning for you or for God! (Luke 6:5-8) John was so impacted by Jesus’ teaching on prayer, he would write: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” (1 John 5:14) Jesus taught persistent in prayer. Christians are to “seek,” “ask,” and “knock” in prayer! In fact, like a determined widow who seeks justice, Jesus asked, “Will not God bring about justice for His chosen ones, who cry out to Him day and night... He will see that they get justice, and quickly!” He continued by asking, “However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” Meaning, will His “chosen ones” be in prayer? (Luke 18:6-8) Christians may not know exactly what to pray, but Paul teaches us that “the Spirit helps us in our weakness,” and “the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express!” (Romans 8:26) This is why later Paul would admonish his readers to “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” (Romans 12:12) The Christian life should be one of prayer.
EXAMPLE: Rather than prayer seekers, too many believers are prayer “plotters.” We are guilty of plotting our prayers to gain our wishes. Kind of like what James describes when he wrote, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” (James 4:3) We live in a society that is motivated by what it wants rather than seeking first the kingdom of God. Selfishness rules the lives of many Christians. When I first became a believer, I wanted to be like the great Christians of the past who had made an impact for God in the world. So, I asked the Lord to make me like them. It sounded like a noble request, but I began to realize it was actually a self-centered prayer. I began to look where God was working and asking if I should join Him there. This is not an unusual thing for us to do. Often when we are young and immature we desire the prowess of others we want to emulate. It is sad however when all we desire from our prayer life is for God to become our personal. Requests for health, healing, success, or even spirituality are not wrong, but they can become selfish prayers if they do not flow from a heart determined to “seek first” His “kingdom and righteousness.” Seeking what God desires enables us to fully experience His presence as we pray. The Christian life should be one of prayer.
In this verse, Paul relates that the second area of the Christian life should be found in…
II. Being Watchful!
1. Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak. (Matthew 26:41) One of Jesus’ last requests was for His disciples to “watch and pray,” and sadly they could not and they fell asleep. It is a poignant moment but it also carries with it the reason why Christians are to be watchful. Evil desires a foot hold in your life. Jesus warned that “false prophets” would come in “sheep’s clothing,” looking and sounding good but in reality are like “ferocious wolves” on the inside. (Matthew 7:15) In fact, He related, “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.” (Matthew 24:4-5) Christians are also admonished to “keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come!” (Matthew 24:42) Which is the idea of us being aware of your faith walk and mindful that Jesus can return anytime and you “do not know the day or the hour!” (Matthew 25:13) But you are also to “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions,” (Luke12:15) because the things of this world can keep us from following Jesus. We are to “watch” ourselves concerning sin, especially if it influences others! We could cause someone to stumble and it would be better “to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around” our “neck” than to do so! (Luke 17:1-3) This is why Paul would say that as a Christian you should “Watch your life and doctrine closely,” (1 Timothy 4:16) because you can influence others with your words and actions! The Christian therefore should be watchful of their lives in Christ.
EXAMPLE: Too few Christians today stand guard over their lives. I recently asked our youth a simple question that involved physics: “If I take a roll of tape and drop it, what will happen?” I got several silly answers, until I told them to “be serious” and I continued to ask the same question over and over. Presently several of them related, “It will fall to the ground.” In fact, the law of gravity tells me that this is true. No matter how many times I dropped that roll of tape, it will fall to the ground. Some philosophers that will try to convince you that there just might be a time when it will not or that what you see is not actually what is taking place. However, no philosophical reinterpretation of the law of gravity negates the effect it has on objects. The same kind of nonsense is often tried by those who are not careful with their faith walk. Any excuse will do for them to explain their weak walk with God. This is why Jesus warned: “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father,” when He will return. We are to “Be on guard! Be alert!” Because we “do not know when that time will come.” (Mark 13:32-33) While we wait, Peter reminds us to “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8) The Christian therefore should be watchful of their lives in Christ.
The third area of the Christian life should be found in…
III. Being thankful!
1. You are the light of the world…. let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16) Christians are to be the light in a sin darkened world. We do this through our attitudes and actions by allowing God’s Spirit to live through us. Paul would admonish: “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.” (Colossians 3:15) If Jesus’ peace rules your life, thankfulness will be evident in everything you do. “All this is for your benefit,” Paul would say, “so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God!” (2 Corinthians 4:15) Our entire life should be one that brings glory to God and praise to His name. When the Christian is outwardly thankful and generous with their lives, they receive a harvest whereby they are “made rich in every way so that [Christians] can be generous on every occasion” which “will result in thanksgiving to God.” (2 Corinthians 9:11) In fact, in the life of a Christian there should not be any “obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving,” (Ephesians 5:4) Paul knew that when an attitude of thankfulness permeated the life of a Christian, “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6) A Christian’s life should be one of thankfulness.
EXAMPLE: Many want others to be thankful to them, but few are truly thankful of the blessings they receive from others or the Lord. Thankfulness is an attitude of the heart that is a choice a person makes. You decide if you are going to be thankful or not. No one else can make you thankful nor can God change your thankless attitude unless you allow Him to. I always laugh when I read the final chapter of Jonah. In a sulky huff, Jonah goes and sits down east of the city of Nineveh that he wanted to see destroyed, but in His mercy God rescued. The sun is hot and Jonah is in discomfort from its heat, so God in His kindness grows a vine for Jonah for shade. “But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, ‘It would be better for me to die than to live.’” How pathetic is that? God reminds Jonah he has no right to be angry over something he did not create. How ungrateful! Yet, we are too often like Jonah. Angry with God and others that we did not get what we thought we “deserved.” In reality, we should be thankful for what God has given us. Our thankfulness should be expressed in all we do, think, or say. A Christian’s life should be one of thankfulness.
Conclusion:
The Christian should be found in prayer, the Christian should be found being watchful, and the Christian should be found being thankful. Are you?
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