Grace Fellowship 11/08/09 Prayer, Proclamation, and Prison Pt. 3 Colossians 4:2-4
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We want to look once again into the excellent, jam-packed little book of Colossians, at chapter 4 and verses 2-4. Read the text with me please:
2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. 3 At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— 4 that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. 1
We have entitled this mini-series of messages from this text we’re in, “Prayer, Proclamation, and Prison.” In the first two messages, we focused first on the need for watchful prayer for ourselves. Then we saw how God makes opportunities for the proclamation of the Gospel by opening doors to do so, in answer to prayer. Now, before we move on to part three, I want to revisit part 2 of the series for a moment and address once again how we are to proclaim the Gospel.
In these verses, Paul is asking the Colossians to pray to pray for him. More specifically, they should pray that God would give him opportunities to “declare the mystery of Christ, . . . that I may make it clear.” In making that prayer request, he states not only what we as Christians should pray about (that God would make opportunities for the proclamation of the Gospel message), but also how we should present the Gospel. We are to make it clear.
Two words from this text need to be mentioned in regard to the Gospel message. Those words are “mystery” and (in some versions) “manifest” (or “clear” in the ESV). The word “mystery” is the Greek word mystērion (moos-tay'-ree-on), which is obviously the word from which we get our English word mystery. It generally refers to something hidden or secret, the same way we understand the word “mystery” today. In the religious realm, “mystery” pertains to things that are not obvious to the understanding, spiritual matters that are incomprehensible to the natural man. To those who are unregenerate, spiritual truths are a mystery. Only the redeemed are enabled by the grace of God to understand spiritual truths. 2
Paul tells us that the Gospel itself a mystery. To the Jews, the sacrificial death of the Messiah at the hands of Gentiles is a great stumbling-block. It is not “good news.” Rather, it is a great offense to even suggest that the Messiah would suffer in such a disgraceful manner. To the Gentiles, the crucifixion of the Son of God is foolishness. It is mean and lowly and unsophisticated. How could it possibly be true that the Son of God could die?. But to those who believe it, this message that is beyond the grasp of unregenerate people is itself the power of God unto salvation!
This is why Paul asks the Colossians to pray for him so that if and when God opens a door of opportunity for him to preach the gospel message, he might present this mysterious message with clarity, and that the truth of it would be manifest and obvious. It seems contradictory that he would ask God to enable him to preach clearly what cannot be understood apart from the work of the Spirit of God. But the clarity of Gospel preaching is for the sake of the elect. The Gospel message must be humanly comprehensible. It must be presented in humanly understandable terms AND it must be accompanied by the Holy Spirit in order to effect salvation. It is the mysterious message of salvation that brings saving faith with it and applies it to the regenerated heart.
So when the apostle says that he should preach the mystery of the gospel with clarity, what is he teaching us? For one thing, the minister of the gospel cannot be sloppy or imprecise or cryptic in his preaching. He can never say, “I’ll just preach whatever comes to mind and trust the Lord to speak to hearts.” “I don’t really need to spend time studying the Scriptures. It’s all up to God anyway if people are saved.“ That was not the methodology of Paul. He specifically asked believers to pray that the mystery of the Gospel would be revealed to hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit BY MEANS of clear, precise, and heart-felt communication of particular mysterious truths. And if Paul needed to be clear, . . .
However, in the book of Colossians, and in the larger context of the rest of the New Testament, there is another specific aspect to this mystery Paul refers to, and it is this: God saves Gentiles. Why is that a mystery? What is mysterious about that? Doesn’t everyone know John 3:16? While this was anticipated in the Old Testament on many occasions, the Jews never really took it to heart. So salvation for non-Jews remained a mystery to them. They seemed to universally forget or ignore the fact that their father Abraham was promised by God that in him, “all the families of the earth shall be blessed.“ (Gen. 12:3). God changed his name from Abram (exalted father), to Abraham (father of a multitude). He is not only the father of his physical descendants, but of his spiritual descendants as well, regardless of their race or nationality. But the Jews did not believe this, and as a people, they still don’t to this day. The gospel of salvation to non-Jews is still a stumbling-block for Jews and a mystery they cannot fathom. It remains a mystery to them even now.
The Gentile world of Paul’s day (i.e. the rest of us) never really had any access to the gospel message apart from becoming Jewish proselytes for thousands of years prior to the coming of the Lord Jesus. Paul tells the Gentile Ephesians that prior to his coming and preaching this mystery to them, that they had never known the gospel of salvation and had been without hope and without God for millenia. But now, God has caused His prophesied and predicted plan to make Abraham a blessing to all the nations of the earth, to come to fruition. In the fullness of time, God sent His Son to die for and to redeem whoever believes in Him. That word “whoever” reveals the mystery. What they did not know before is now being preached with clarity to the non-Jewish world: There is a Savior for all the nations, for both Jews and Gentiles, in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the mystery revealed, and it is Paul’s intention to make that truth which has been mysteriously unknown as clear as possible to the Gentiles.
So he asks the Colossian believers to pray for him that he would be given opportunities to declare the mystery of Christ . . . and make it clear. If there was ever a time when the gospel needed to be made clear, it is now. We cannot afford a fuzzy so-called gospel message that is heavy on personal fulfillment and light on deliverance from the condemnation of sin. We must be clear. There is a judgment day coming when every life will stand trial and every soul will have to give an account to God for crimes committed against Him. But the other side of that message is there is grace and mercy and forgiveness to be had in Jesus Christ the Righteous One. Both sides of that gospel coin have to be made clear if we are going to present a gospel message that actually saves people from their sins.
Now we come to part 3 of our mini-series: Prayer, Proclamation, and Prison. I will tell you right up front, it is because of messages like this one you’re about to hear that churches don’t grow. What you’re about to hear is emphatically unpopular among Christians and Evangelicals. What I’m going to present to you now is the antidote for church growth in America. The third part in our series has to do with Christian suffering. In these three verses, the apostle Paul is in effect asking the Colossian Christians to pray that God would give him more opportunities to be thrown in jail. Look at the text once again:
2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. 3 At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— 4 that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.
As he writes this letter, he is writing from prison because he has been arrested for preaching the Gospel. Look at verse 10: Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you. Skip down to verse 18: I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.
“Pray for open doors for the word, on account of which I am in prison. Remember my chains.” If you or I received a letter from an American missionary and he was writing from prison, the number one item in the letter would most likely be a request for us to pray for his release. And that is probably what Paul is implying when he says in verse 18, “Remember my chains.“ In essence, he is asking them to pray for him in his suffering and not to forget him. But his explicit request is for more opportunities for preaching the Gospel, even if it means risking more jail time.
In fact, if you read through this letter quickly, you might not even realize he was in prison at all. The purpose of his letter is not to inform the Colossians of his incarceration. He writes the letter to encourage them in their new faith! Almost in passing, he mentions his imprisonment. Why? Because suffering for the sake of the Gospel is standard procedure. It is to be expected.
That is a foreign concept to many in the American church today. It has been a long time since people in this country have suffered to any great degree because of our Christian convictions. We have had it so good for so long that we find it hard to believe God would expect us, or allow us to suffer for His name’s sake. After all, we have freedom of religion here. But according to the Scriptures, suffering is inseparable from being a disciple of the Lord Jesus. We see it throughout the New Testament, and we have seen it throughout the history of the church.
One of the main perpetrators of this trouble-free, comfortable mindset that many American Christians have is the Word of Faith movement that has taken place over the last 30 years or so. The prosperity doctrines that have been broadcast over Christian television for many years has taught many believers that the last thing God would ever allow to happen to you is that you would have to suffer as a Christian. If you do suffer, it is evidence that you have little (or no) real faith. Those who possess real faith, and some seed money to send in to the televangelist, will be blessed physically and monetarily, but probably not spiritually. Christian television does not promote the idea of Christian suffering.
A second perpetrator of this expectation of a relatively easy life is Dispensationalism. Dispensationalism has been the prevailing theological perspective among Bible-believing Christians in this country for over 100 years. A major tenet in that theological system is the doctrine of the pre-tribulational rapture of the church. In other words, according to Dispensational teaching, just prior to a seven-year period of what is referred to in Scripture as the Great Tribulation3 all true believers will be taken out of the world and will therefore escape that awful period of persecution and death.
A second aspect of this teaching upon many people has been the fostering of an expectation that God will never allow His people to suffer serious persecution. The verse most frequently used in Dispensational circles to teach this is 1 Thessalonians 5:9 - For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
So we have a church today that has been poorly prepared, and in many cases, not prepared at all for the reality of suffering. But the New Testament could hardly be clearer. There is a multitude of passages that speak of Christian suffering. The two that may be the most familiar are 2 Timothy 3:12 and Luke 21:17.
Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
And you will be hated by all for My name's sake.
We don’t want to think about these things. We want to be liked. No one enjoys suffering. It is the opposite of everything we desire: Ease, comfort, pleasure, happiness, peace. But for the true Christian, there will at least be seasons of trouble and suffering. Thankfully Paul did not say, Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer beheading. Paul did not say, Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer crucifixion. Paul did not say, Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer imprisonment. He didn’t say that all the godly would always, all the time, day in and day out, 24/7, endure severe persecution for being a Christian. But He did say that all will suffer persecution.
In Matthew 13 and the parable of the four soils, when the sower goes out and sows the word of God, Jesus says the word of God falls on different types of hearts, which is illustrated by the different kinds of ground: the hard packed ground in the path, the weedy soil, the rocky soil, and the good soil. Some seed falls on hard hearts and just bounces off. Other seed falls among the weeds, and other among the rocks. Listen to what He says there:
20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.
One of the signs of true conversion is perseverance through tribulation and persecution. The person who hears the word and understands it, perseveres through difficulty and hardship, and bears fruit. It is specifically the failure to persevere in difficulties that indicates that a person is not a genuine follower of the Lord Jesus. Tribulation and persecution are the tools God uses in our lives for the express purpose of proving that we truly belong to Him.
Most of you are familiar with Hebrews 11. That is the great “Hall of Faith” chapter where we read that by faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain. By faith, Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. By faith, Noah, . . . constructed an ark for the saving of his household. Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. By faith the people crossed the Red Sea. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down.
Does anybody have a problem with any of those examples? Of course not! We would like to be more like these great heroes of the faith. We would like to have the faith that stopped the mouths of lions , quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Would that we were all so faithful!
Then we have in the same chapter those who, by their faith were tortured, mocked and flogged. By faith, they were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated. Well, I’d just as soon not have THAT kind of faith! But it seems to me that these are the greater heroes of the many that are mentioned in Hebrews 11. Some suffer for for the faith and live, some suffer for the faith and die. But all who have genuine faith that actually results in salvation, all suffer.
The question we must ask is, Why? Why would people willingly suffer in this way? And, why does God allow it? He even promises it! Let’s put a little finer point on it and ask, If God is so good, why does He allow His own people to suffer? We know that the entire world suffers from the effects of sin, but why are we as His redeemed people assured of suffering? Why? Look again at Colossians, chapter 1.
24 Now I [Paul] rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you [you Gentiles!], the hope of glory. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
Ministers of the Gospel suffer because Jesus suffered. It is because of love that we willingly suffer for the sake of taking the Gospel to those whom God has chosen to reveal it to. It is because of love for God’s elect, and because of love for God Himself that we endure afflictions. It is just this kind of suffering that substantiates the genuineness of our faith.
If you, like I did, were to do a search for the word “suffering” in the New Testament, here are just a few of the texts you would come up with:
2 Thessalonians 1
1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. 4 Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring. 5 This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering—
Suffering for the sake of the kingdom is the evidence that God has done a real, saving work in your heart. Real faith which is the result of real regeneration, produces steadfastness and endurance in the midst of persecutions and afflictions that are suffered for the sake of the proclamation of the Gospel.
Romans 5:1-5
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Does God love us? Absolutely, because he has redeemed us and justified us in His own sight. Therefore, the logical conclusion is that since God loves us, He will not allow us to suffer. Wrong. In fact, the change that has taken place in us is so radical, so other-worldly, so supernatural, that we now see our suffering for the sake for the kingdom as a cause for rejoicing! This is not normal! But we understand that the suffering God allows us to experience is making us like Christ and is the result of God’s love that has been poured into our hearts. Christian suffering is not a sign of God’s abandonment. On the contrary, it is evidence of a gracious work of God in us.
2 Timothy 1
8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, 9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, 10 and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 11 for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, 12 which is why I suffer as I do.
From the day Paul was converted, as we read in Acts 9:16, he anticipated this kind of suffering. When the Lord sent Ananias to Paul, he told Ananias, “. . . I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name." This is normal. It is to be expected. We should never presume to be delivered from a difficult life that is lived for the sake of the name of the Lord Jesus.
Listen to the “sales pitch” of Jesus to His disciples. If you knew this stuff ahead of time, why would you ever sign up to be a follower of Him? But that isn’t how it works. Nobody “just signs up.” Rather God works a miracle and transforms us into disciples, followers of the Lord Jesus. Here’s what Jesus told the disciples to expect:
Luke 21:5-19
5 And while some were speaking of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, he said, 6 “As for these things that you see, the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” 7 And they asked him, “Teacher, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?” 8 And he said, “See that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is at hand!’ Do not go after them. 9 And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified, for these things must first take place, but the end will not be at once.”
10 Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11 There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. 12 But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake. 13 This will be your opportunity to bear witness. 14 Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, 15 for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. 16 You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. 17 You will be hated by all for my name's sake. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your lives.
What did He say? Persecution will be your opportunity to bear witness! To bear witness of Christ! We suffer in order to get opportunities to tell of Jesus Christ. And when we are willing to suffer for Him, that is a powerful witness indeed.
Prison, suffering, affliction, martyrdom, persecution, tribulation, abuse, hatred. It is what the faithful should expect. But almost nobody talks about it, unless it’s happening in some far away place to missionaries who should have known better than to go there in the first place! Here in America, we won’t tolerate such treatment because we have rights!
Well, beloved, I wouldn’t count on those rights being defended by the American justice system for very long. Jesus Himself said, “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33).
Now. Here we are at the end of this message, and you are probably thinking, “Is Keith TRYING to scare us to death? How depressing! All this talk about persecution and suffering and being sawn in two and thrown in prison and such! I didn’t sign up for this! Maybe I should start looking for another church . . . ”
At last week’s mission conference in Georgia with To Every Tribe, they handed out a little sticker. At the bottom of the sticker it says: “being laughed at BEING SPIT ON losing a job EXTREME TEMPS & WEATHER separation from family DEATH being disowned NO RUNNING WATER neer getting married NO CELL PHONE loneliness BEING HATED no electricity BEING ARRESTED physical abuse LACK OF PRIVACY being lied to RISKING LOSING A CHILD TO MALARIA no internet POVERY separation from friends BEING DISINHERITED no doctor NO TELEVISION snakes”
The question must be asked, “What could possibly be worth all of that?” Only one thing: The proclamation of the truth of the Gospel as it is in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is worth EVERYTHING. If He isn’t worth dying for, if He isn’t worth suffering for, if He isn’t worth the sacrifice of our comforts and pleasures, of our wills and our lives, . . .
Then we don’t understand who He really is. God sends suffering into the lives of all believers in order to prove the surpassing worth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here’s how Paul put it:
Philippians 3
7 But whatever gain I had [in my previous life], I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Knowing the Lord Jesus is worth whatever suffering He in His loving wisdom may choose to send our way. And in that suffering, we are comforted in the knowledge that whatever may happen, He grants grace that is sufficient to enable us to endure it well. Those are our opportunities to bear witness to the surpassing greatness and infinite value of knowing Jesus Christ.
What is He worth to you?
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1. All Scripture is from the ESV.
2. Thayer and Smith. "Greek Lexicon entry for Musterion". "The New Testament Greek Lexicon". <http://www.searchgodsword.org/lex/grk/view.cgi?number=3466>.
3. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. (Matthew 24:21).