Col 4:2-3 | KingComments | STEP | . The previous verses were addressed to the slaves. Now we read a word to the masters. Paul has no purpose to negotiate in order to set the slaves free, but calls upon the masters to give them an appropriate reward. The emphasis is not on favor but on justice. The reward must be just means that an equal reward should be given to all-in case of equal performance. This excludes favoritism. Fairness means the amount of reward must be based on a correct appreciation of the service provided. Every Christian employer must always ask what is appropriate. He must be conscious of the fact that he too has a Master in heaven Who will mete out to him according as he measured. All previous instructions can be followed only by God’s children. Marital problems and family disputes must not arise in the families of believers. As Christian employees you should not seek the redress of grievances from a labor union. A Christian employer need not be pressurized to give his workers what they demand. In all these relationships a Christian must show that he is related to Christ. Thus he is in a position to unfold the characteristics of the new man in an old creation. Thus he walks worthy of the Lord ( ). And is this not the reason why we have received this letter? . After addressing several groups in a special way the apostle now turns again to all Christians. He speaks to them about topics that apply to every member of God’s people, whether man or woman, parent or child, slave or master. He begins with prayer to which he encourages to devote themselves. To devote yourself to prayer does not mean that you pray now and then or if you have a hard time. Anyone can call out to God if he is in distress. Whoever devotes himself to prayer remains in fellowship with God and is always conscious of his dependence on Him. You stay close to Him in prayer and trust in His willingness to listen to you. When something goes wrong in your life you discover that it is very often because you did not devote yourself to prayer. Or you have indeed prayed but you didn’t keep alert in it ( ). This means that you ensure that you do not fall asleep during prayer time and do not allow your thoughts to wander in all directions. Your prayer would then no longer be effective and when you say ‘amen’ you do not know what you prayed for. If you devote yourself to prayer, keeping alert in it, you are conscious that God is at work and that He will never leave you. Therefore your prayer can always be with thanksgiving. Prayer and thanksgiving go together. Thanksgiving is not just for answered prayers. You can thank the Lord because everything you speak to Him about is in good hands with Him. . If you pray and are also watchful you will be totally committed to the Lord’s work. This is what Paul means when he asks that people pray for him and for his co-workers. Exactly like Paul, anyone who serves God needs the prayer support of others. Paul asks the Colossians to pray for an open door. By this he means not the door of the prison, but an open door for the Word. Open doors are opportunities God gives to preach ( ; ). How grateful the Colossians will be that the Word of God came to them ( ). Surely the call for prayer will have found an echo in them. Just think about what you have received because someone brought you the Word. This should encourage you to pray that others will hear this liberating and rich Word. You will pray that God gives His slaves opportunities to preach His Word. People are not waiting to hear a sermon with this content. This is what Paul also experienced. Talking about the mystery brought him to imprisonment. This makes it clear that the mystery was not revealed only during his imprisonment, but already before. Some proclaim the error that the mystery only was revealed during his imprisonment, but don’t be fooled. It’s not the place here to elaborate on that, but its good that you know this. By now you have well understood from the letter to the Ephesians and this letter what the mystery is. . Paul lived and suffered to proclaim this mystery and asked for intercession. He asks for prayer not only for the free flow of the message but also for clarity and boldness. He did not want to draw attention to himself with a profound sermon which would go over their heads. He sought no human gratification. The Word of God is clear and simple. Let us pray that all those who minister through preaching the Word of God do it in plain and simple language which can be understood easily by all. Only then hearts and consciences can be reached and they will open themselves to the riches of the Word. . After encouraging them to pray and intercede, Paul now talks about the walk of the Colossians. It is important that what you ask for in prayer is not undone by repulsive behavior. The unbelievers around you stand outside the circle of Christians. They are the ones who are called outsiders ( ; ; ). They belong to the world and they are not connected to the Lord Jesus, but they are still keen observers. Added to that, the world is hostile to Christians, so do not let the often seemingly friendly face of the world cheat you. In fact it so quickly takes offence at what you do, even though you do not have any intention to hurt. So make sure that you avoid any possible occasion that the unbeliever could use to discredit your being a Christian. Wisdom is to fear the Lord and turn away from evil ( ) and even from every form of evil ( ). In the first part of you saw that your walk as a Christian in the world has to be with wisdom. Then you escape from all kinds of pitfalls and avoid wrong impressions. But that is not the only thing where we can see wisdom. If that were so, wisdom would cause a negative attitude. You escape from this by doing the second part of this verse. There it is said that you can make positive use of wisdom by “making the most of the opportunity”, literally “redeeming the time”. That means that you make the maximum profit out of every opportunity the Lord gives. This has to do with the highest market value of something, in this case of time. This is in contrast to squandering or wasting your time and thereby doing little for God. You come into contact with people every day. These are generally people who are preoccupied with their own affairs and evade serious issues of life. Such an attitude gives the Christian little opportunity to present to them the grace and truth of the gospel. He will however take the opportunities God gives to speak about the gospel. Sometimes an unbeliever reveals something of himself, and if we are good listeners, we will notice that God in the unbeliever‘s life has spoken to his conscience. That can happen by a certain event or by something that he has read. Satan can mislead a man but he cannot prevent that God speaks to his heart. It is nice to know that God wants to use you as His voice to speak to lost sinners. You do not have wisdom yourself. You may ask for it ( ). In the context of this letter it is nice to see that you can find all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge in Christ ( ). If you keep occupied with Him you will see what wisdom is and you will know how to apply it. Wisdom is already dealt with in connection with your dealing with fellow believers ( ). Here your view is directed to wisdom with regard to your contact with unbelievers. So you can see that God wants to equip you with all wisdom in all circumstances and for each contact. Now read Colossians 4:1-5 again. Reflection: What believers who bring the Word of God you are praying for? Do you pray also that they really bring the Word of God?

‏ Colossians 4:2-3

Masters, Prayer, Walk

Col 4:1. The previous verses were addressed to the slaves. Now we read a word to the masters. Paul has no purpose to negotiate in order to set the slaves free, but calls upon the masters to give them an appropriate reward. The emphasis is not on favor but on justice.

The reward must be just means that an equal reward should be given to all-in case of equal performance. This excludes favoritism. Fairness means the amount of reward must be based on a correct appreciation of the service provided. Every Christian employer must always ask what is appropriate. He must be conscious of the fact that he too has a Master in heaven Who will mete out to him according as he measured.

All previous instructions can be followed only by God’s children. Marital problems and family disputes must not arise in the families of believers. As Christian employees you should not seek the redress of grievances from a labor union. A Christian employer need not be pressurized to give his workers what they demand. In all these relationships a Christian must show that he is related to Christ. Thus he is in a position to unfold the characteristics of the new man in an old creation. Thus he walks worthy of the Lord (Col 1:10). And is this not the reason why we have received this letter?

Col 4:2. After addressing several groups in a special way the apostle now turns again to all Christians. He speaks to them about topics that apply to every member of God’s people, whether man or woman, parent or child, slave or master.

He begins with prayer to which he encourages to devote themselves. To devote yourself to prayer does not mean that you pray now and then or if you have a hard time. Anyone can call out to God if he is in distress. Whoever devotes himself to prayer remains in fellowship with God and is always conscious of his dependence on Him. You stay close to Him in prayer and trust in His willingness to listen to you.

When something goes wrong in your life you discover that it is very often because you did not devote yourself to prayer. Or you have indeed prayed but you didn’t keep alert in it (Mt 26:41). This means that you ensure that you do not fall asleep during prayer time and do not allow your thoughts to wander in all directions. Your prayer would then no longer be effective and when you say ‘amen’ you do not know what you prayed for.

If you devote yourself to prayer, keeping alert in it, you are conscious that God is at work and that He will never leave you. Therefore your prayer can always be with thanksgiving. Prayer and thanksgiving go together. Thanksgiving is not just for answered prayers. You can thank the Lord because everything you speak to Him about is in good hands with Him.

Col 4:3. If you pray and are also watchful you will be totally committed to the Lord’s work. This is what Paul means when he asks that people pray for him and for his co-workers. Exactly like Paul, anyone who serves God needs the prayer support of others. Paul asks the Colossians to pray for an open door. By this he means not the door of the prison, but an open door for the Word. Open doors are opportunities God gives to preach (1Cor 16:9; 2Cor 2:12). How grateful the Colossians will be that the Word of God came to them (Col 1:5-6). Surely the call for prayer will have found an echo in them.

Just think about what you have received because someone brought you the Word. This should encourage you to pray that others will hear this liberating and rich Word. You will pray that God gives His slaves opportunities to preach His Word.

People are not waiting to hear a sermon with this content. This is what Paul also experienced. Talking about the mystery brought him to imprisonment. This makes it clear that the mystery was not revealed only during his imprisonment, but already before. Some proclaim the error that the mystery only was revealed during his imprisonment, but don’t be fooled. It’s not the place here to elaborate on that, but its good that you know this. By now you have well understood from the letter to the Ephesians and this letter what the mystery is.

Col 4:4. Paul lived and suffered to proclaim this mystery and asked for intercession. He asks for prayer not only for the free flow of the message but also for clarity and boldness. He did not want to draw attention to himself with a profound sermon which would go over their heads. He sought no human gratification. The Word of God is clear and simple. Let us pray that all those who minister through preaching the Word of God do it in plain and simple language which can be understood easily by all. Only then hearts and consciences can be reached and they will open themselves to the riches of the Word.

Col 4:5. After encouraging them to pray and intercede, Paul now talks about the walk of the Colossians. It is important that what you ask for in prayer is not undone by repulsive behavior. The unbelievers around you stand outside the circle of Christians. They are the ones who are called outsiders (1Cor 5:12-13; 1Thes 4:12; 1Tim 3:7). They belong to the world and they are not connected to the Lord Jesus, but they are still keen observers.

Added to that, the world is hostile to Christians, so do not let the often seemingly friendly face of the world cheat you. In fact it so quickly takes offence at what you do, even though you do not have any intention to hurt. So make sure that you avoid any possible occasion that the unbeliever could use to discredit your being a Christian. Wisdom is to fear the Lord and turn away from evil (Pro 9:10 ; Pro 14:16) and even from every form of evil (1Thes 5:22).

In the first part of Col 4:5 you saw that your walk as a Christian in the world has to be with wisdom. Then you escape from all kinds of pitfalls and avoid wrong impressions. But that is not the only thing where we can see wisdom. If that were so, wisdom would cause a negative attitude. You escape from this by doing the second part of this verse.

There it is said that you can make positive use of wisdom by “making the most of the opportunity”, literally “redeeming the time”. That means that you make the maximum profit out of every opportunity the Lord gives. This has to do with the highest market value of something, in this case of time. This is in contrast to squandering or wasting your time and thereby doing little for God.

You come into contact with people every day. These are generally people who are preoccupied with their own affairs and evade serious issues of life. Such an attitude gives the Christian little opportunity to present to them the grace and truth of the gospel. He will however take the opportunities God gives to speak about the gospel.

Sometimes an unbeliever reveals something of himself, and if we are good listeners, we will notice that God in the unbeliever‘s life has spoken to his conscience. That can happen by a certain event or by something that he has read. Satan can mislead a man but he cannot prevent that God speaks to his heart. It is nice to know that God wants to use you as His voice to speak to lost sinners.

You do not have wisdom yourself. You may ask for it (Jam 1:5). In the context of this letter it is nice to see that you can find all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge in Christ (Col 2:3). If you keep occupied with Him you will see what wisdom is and you will know how to apply it. Wisdom is already dealt with in connection with your dealing with fellow believers (Col 3:16). Here your view is directed to wisdom with regard to your contact with unbelievers. So you can see that God wants to equip you with all wisdom in all circumstances and for each contact.

Now read Colossians 4:1-5 again.

Reflection: What believers who bring the Word of God you are praying for? Do you pray also that they really bring the Word of God?