Sunday School lecture 11/30/03 part II
Colossians 3:18-4:18
4:2-4 Living for Christ in Private Devotions
From his directions for Christian households, Paul now moves towards guidance for each individual believer in the church. Paul instructs us to "continue steadfastly in prayer." The Greek word, proskartereo (pros-kar-ter-eh'-o) carries the connotation of being earnest toward, to persevere, and to be constantly diligent. He also instructs us to be watchful suggesting alertness.
God will not be coerced by our much speaking (Matthew 6:7), however, proper and frequent prayer shows our sincerity and can lead us to crystallize our desires and our persistence demonstrates our faith that God will answer (Luke 18:1-7). Prayer is diminished though if we fall into mere requests and petitions. Therefore Paul stresses that the primary attitude of prayer should be thanksgiving.
Paul then asks for prayer for his own condition and that of his colleagues. In typical Pauline fashion, he does not ask that the Colossians pray for his release, but rather that the current circumstances of his imprisonment might lead to the opportunity to declare the mystery of Christ and to do so in a proper and articulate way.
4:5-6 Living for Christ as Demonstrated to Outsiders
As a logical step from his request for prayer that he would conduct himself properly in his surroundings in Rome, Paul now moves to directions for his Christian audience concerning the world outside the home, church, workplace and private devotions. Of all people, Paul, a former Pharisee, knew the risk of rejecting and scorning outsiders. Wisdom is required as we deal with the outside world. We are not to antagonize, ridicule, nor alienate our non-believing neighbors. It is our duty to try to bring them into the fold.
At the same time, we are to conduct ourselves in such a way that we attract them to Christianity. We do this at every opportunity or as Paul expresses it, "making the most of the time," or "redeeming the time." Aside from wisdom in conduct, we must also seek wisdom in speech. The "grace" that our speech is to reflect is kindness, pleasantness, a charming disposition. We are to speak the Gospel not only of grace, but with grace.
In the ancient Greek language, salty speech often meant witty conversation. Seasoned may be interpreted as "interesting" speech. Effective witnessing does not rely on dull repetitions of Scriptures, or condemnation of the non-elect. The Gospel is proclaimed as much in our delivery as in our words. It is often our presentation as much as our message that converts.
Conclusions
4:7-9 Paul's Messengers
We see Tychicus in three other New Testament verses: Acts 13:5; 20:4; 2Timothy 4:12; and Titus 3:12. From these four verses we conclude that he is a personal assistant to Paul and a delegate. He was an Asian (read as Roman Province of Asia) that had accompanied Paul in Macedonia. As Colossae sat on a major trade route it would not be surprising to find Asians in that area and as he was a companion of Paul who accompanied an entourage of evangelists he may have been quite familiar with the residents. Onesimus is, of course, the runaway slave who had possibly robbed his master and it may be the account of his conversion that Paul would leave to Tychicus to explain. We once again see Paul commend Onesimus as a brother and as being faithful.
