MR. D'S NOTES ON COLOSSIANS

COPYRIGHT 2002

Rev. Stanley L. Derickson Ph.D.

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CHAPTER EIGHT

8. CHRIST OUR MASTER

Christ our Master builds us through prayer to service (vs. 12b).
Col. 4.7-18; 1.7-8


Vs. 7 "All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you, [who is] a beloved brother, and a faithful minister and fellowservant in the Lord:"

That would be a nice thing to have Paul say about you in public. In fact it is probably a fine example of what we ought to do now and then for those that serve in the church. Give them recognition for doing a good job. Giving them due respect for being a fellow servant. Seems many pastors act as though all that goes on in their church is due to their hard work, rather than being the sum of all the work of all the people involved in the church.

Vs. 8 "Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he might know your estate, and comfort your hearts;"

Paul is sending him to give report of Paul to the church as well as gather a report of the church for him. Not only is he to observe the church, but he is to give them comfort. This may be indication of the stresses that the believers were facing - Paul thought that they needed comfort.

Vs. 9 "With Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is [one] of you. They shall make known unto you all things which [are done] here."

Again we see the thought of a report of what is going on. There is great need for reports from the field. What are some of the reasons for these reports - say from a missionary you are supporting.

1. It gives you some idea if the worker is working. It is obvious that a dishonest worker is going to lie in his letters, but by the time we know we want to support a worker we usually have trust. We can know of what they are doing, what their needs are, and what we might be able to do for them.

2. This gives rise to the thought of prayer. Only if we know their needs can we pray specifically. I know we can pray in general and that is good, but we should have specifics for specific prayer - this is like going to war with shotguns. You can blast and hope you hit something, or you can go with a rifle and know that you are aiming at something specific.

3. Reports hold the worker somewhat accountable even though you are not there. They know that every month or so you are expecting to hear information about their activities for the time period before.

We supported some missionaries with a good mission for years. One of the things I liked about the mission was that each missionary went through a yearly evaluation with their area director. It wasn't an interrogation, but was a setting of goals, desires, and listing of future activities. Each time they met they would go over these and see how things were going.

The area director then gave a written report to the contributors to that worker. This gave additional information about the quality of work that the person was doing. This was not to degrade or uplift, but to inform. A way to help make the worker accountable to their supporters.

Regrettably the mission decided this was not a worthy exercise even though they mouthed a strong local church accountability philosophy.

Vs. 10 "Aristarchus my fellowprisoner saluteth you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, (touching whom ye received commandments: if he come unto you, receive him;)"

An encouragement to receive others that may come your way. What a proof text if one is needed to give traveling missionaries welcome.

One of the shocks of our years on deputation was the lack of welcome that pastors gave us. Only a very few times were we offered a place to stay, and those usually when we were going to be present more than one day for a conference. Normally housing was never discussed.

Many are the times that I would present our ministry to a church and have to drive all night to make it to where I was staying or to our home. This usually after presenting an A.M. message as well.

Yep, lived through it, and many were the most beautiful sunrises and early breakfasts that I thoroughly enjoyed. My personality is one that it did not bother me, but I have wondered at how missionaries traveling with families make it through from Sunday services to Wednesday evening services and from Wednesday to Sunday.

It is most important to me that one of the qualifications for elder is "hospitality" and so few pastors practice this today. (I Tim. 3.2; Titus 1.8) In fact Titus says that he is supposed to love hospitality - most love the hospitality shown them, but seldom do they show it to others.

Vs. 11 "And Jesus, which is called Justus, who are of the circumcision. These only [are my] fellowworkers unto the kingdom of God, which have been a comfort unto me."

He shares the reason for mentioning these men - they have been a comfort to him. Again this thought of recognizing those you work with as being profitable to you.

Not only is there application to pastors/leaders, but how about you Christian employers. I have worked for believers in the past and enjoyed a nice working space, but seldom have I received any real recognition for the good work that they have enjoyed from me - a kind loving word now and then would be beneficial to both the worker and the employer.

I might get theological for a moment - unto the Kingdom of God - Paul preached the coming kingdom all through his ministry. This book is late in his life and he still sees the Kingdom as a primary part of the ministry at hand. In Acts we see that even unto the end he was preaching the Kingdom. "Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him." 28.31

Vs. 12 "Epaphras, who is [one] of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God."

Vs. 13 "For I bear him record, that he hath a great zeal for you, and them [that are] in Laodicea, and them in Hierapolis."

As we deal with Epaphras we need to remind ourselves of chapter one's reference to him. 1.7-8 "As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ; 8 Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit."

I have challenged many a church to consider this man's life as we can know it from these few verses in light of a pastor’s qualities. We often look into a man's qualifications, and overlook his qualities or lack thereof.

Let's just list the qualities of this man as we see them.

From the church at Colosse
Servant of Christ
Interested in the saints (asked Paul to greet them)
Hard worker that never lets up
Prayer warrior
Desires they walk with God
Desires their completeness as believers
He was zealous for them (Zeal is a four letter word, but not a bad word)
Fellowservant of Paul's
Minister of Christ
Observant of the qualities of others
Sharing of good qualities of others

Kind of a hard act to follow. (See appendix two for more on this man)

Vs. 14 "Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you."

We see Doctor Luke, an educated person following the Lord. There are detractors of the Lord that call Christianity the crutch for the lame, but we know that educated people can know the saving grace of the Lord as well as their need of it.

Don't be afraid to speak to educated people about the Gospel if you are given opportunity. They need the Lord too, and most are wise enough to know their need if the Spirit of God has been there before you.

Vs. 15 "Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house."

I applaud this man for having a church in his home. This is one of the most disruptive of occurrences, but probably the most blessed of ministries to have. We had a church meet in our home for several months and even though there were some definite difficulties it was a most rewarding thing to open our home to the believers to assist in their spiritual nourishment.

I believe it gave much more warmth for our fellowship as well as the learning times.

Vs. 16 "And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the [epistle] from Laodicea."

This was an instruction to the church so many years ago, but we can know a couple of items from it.

First of all there was a letter from Paul to Laodicea - wouldn't you love to know what he said to them? It was not included in Scripture - we know not why, it could be that it was lost before the Canon was discussed, or it may not have been up to the standard of the books of the Canon.

Secondly we can know that the heresy present at Colosse was also present at Laodicea.

Thirdly by implication we might assume that the heresy was not present at the church at Hieropolis since Paul did not tell them to circulate the letter to them. Laodicea was just a short distance to the northwest of Colossae and Heiropolis (4.13) was just to the north. The three cities make a nice equilateral triangle. Most likely the churches were quite familiar with one another.

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Concerning the book of Ephesians possibly being the letter to the Laodiceans:

From the Net Bible at http://www.bible.org

"... yet the opening line of this epistle makes little sense without them ("to the saints who are and are faithful..."? or perhaps "to the saints who are also faithful," though with this sense the ou\sin [ousin] is redundant and the kaiv [kai] is treated somewhat unnaturally). What is interesting is Marcion's canon list which offers the letter to the Laodiceans among Paul's authentic epistles. This, coupled with some internal evidence that the writer did not know his audience personally (cf. 1:15; 3:2; absence of personal names throughout), suggests that Ephesians was an encyclical letter, intended for more than one audience. Does this mean that the shorter reading is to be preferred? Yes and no. A plausible scenario is as follows: Paul sent the letter from Rome, intending it first to go to Ephesus. At the same time, Colossians was dispatched. Going counterclockwise through Asia Minor, this letter would first come to Ephesus, the port of entry, then to Laodicea, then Colossae. Tychicus' instructions may well have been for each church to "fill in the blank" on the address line. The church at Ephesus would have certainly made the most copies, being Paul's home base for nearly three years. Hence, most of the surviving copies have "in Ephesus" in v. 1. But one might expect a hint of evidence that Laodicea also made a few copies: both Marcion's list and Col 4:16 may well imply this. What is to account for the early Alexandrian evidence, then? These mss were probably made from a very early copy, one reflecting the blank line before each church filled it in. Although it is of course only speculation (as is necessary in a historical investigation lacking some of the pieces to the puzzle), this scenario accounts for all of the data: (1) "in Ephesus" in most mss; (2) Laodicea in Marcion's list and Col 4:16; (3) the lack of an addressee in the earliest witnesses; (4) why the earliest witnesses' reading must be rejected as too hard; and (5) why Paul seems not to know the readership. In sum, is "in Ephesus" original? Yes and no. Some address belongs there; ejn *Efevsw/ (en Efesw) is the predominant address; but several other churches also received this circular letter as their own. For this reason the phrase has been placed in single brackets in the translation."

Schofiled's note that introduces Ephesians:

"Col 4:16 mentions an epistle to the Laodiceans. It has been conjectured that the letter known to us as Ephesians is really the Laodicean letter. Probably it was sent to Ephesus and Laodicea without being addressed to any church. The letter would then be "to the saints and the faithful in
Christ Jesus" anywhere."

Vs. 17 "And say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it."

Might we assume that Paul is helping the church hold someone in their group accountable? Would seem that is the thought. One must wonder why Paul felt this was a necessary comment to make. Spose he had heard something that made him question the work Archippus was doing - seems logical - also a heavy stroke of encouragement to give a guy - set the whole church on him to do a good job.

Vs. 18 "The salutation by the hand of me Paul. Remember my bonds. Grace [be] with you. Amen."

Just place yourself in the place of Joe Colossian sitting in church hearing this epistle read for the first time. You must wonder how it must have impacted their lives. The encouragement, the teaching, the exhortation - what a heavy load to take home and consider as you went to work the next day.

I trust that we might want to give serious consideration to some of the principles that we've looked at in this brief study.

Just by observing what we read, what can we learn of Paul in these verses?

7. A believer (called him brother)
Recognizer of qualities of people

8. Interested in condition of others
Compassionate (wanted to comfort them)

9. Busy

10. Devoted to Christ (prisoner)
Recommends others

11. Needy (accepted comfort from others)
Laborer for the Lord

12. Willing to build up others

13. Willing to support others

14. Willing to allow others input to his writing

15. Willing to recognize others

17. Willing to confront others

18. Open to asking others for prayer

SOME ITEMS TO CONSIDER FROM THE BOOK


WE ARE TO DO THE FOLLOWING CHRIST DID THE FOLLOWING
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1:1 living by will of God
1:2 faithful
1:3 prayerful - thankful
1:4 love
1:5 hope laid up in heaven
1:9 know His will
1:10 walk worthily, please Him,
bearing fruit, good works
learning about God
1:11 steadfast
patient strengthens with power for work
joyful
1:12 thankful coheirs with Christ
1:13 delivered us from darkness
transferred us to the kingdom
of His son.
1:14 redeemed us
1:16 He created us
1:17 sustains creation
1:20 Christ reconciled all to God
through blood of Christ
1:22 reconciled us to Him
1:25 gave the church men
1:28 teach and admonish to holiness
2:1 struggle on behalf of other
believers
2:5 disciplined, stable in faith
2:6 walk in Christ
2:7 overflow with gratitude
2:8 beware false teaching
2:10 made us complete
2:13 made us alive
forgave all sins
2:14 canceled all debt
2:15 disarmed the rulers
and authorities
2:18 refrain from self abasement
worship of angels
visions
2:20 don't follow worldly standards
3:1 seek things above raised us with Christ
3:2 set mind above not below
3:3 our life is hid in
Christ in God
3:5 consider your body dead to
immorality
impurity
passion
evil desire
greed (idolatry)

3:8 put aside anger
wrath
malice
slander
abusive speech
lying
3:12 put on heart of compassion chose us
kindness made us holy and beloved
humility
gentleness
patience
3:13 bear with one another
forgive one another
3:14 put on love
3:15 be thankful

called
3:16 let Word dwell in us
teach and admonish one another
with thankfulness
3:17 do all in Christ's name
give thanks
3:18 wives submit
3:19 husbands love your wife
3:20 children obey your parents
3:21 father don't exasperate your
child
3:22 slaves do well to master
as unto Christ
4:1 masters do well unto slaves
4:2 devote selves to prayer
thanksgiving
4:3-4 speak of Christ with charity
4:5 conduct self with wisdom to
outsiders
4:6 season speech with salt

HE WILL DO THE FOLLOWING

1:22 present us holy
3:4 will be revealed with Christ
3:6 wrath will come because of those things mentioned in verse five.
3:10 renew us to a TRUE knowledge.

MAJOR DOCTRINES MENTIONED

Adoption Reward
Redemption Resurrection
Reconciliation Security
Creation Predestination
Spiritual gifts Holiness
Ecclesiology Eschatology
Forgiveness Perfecting
Sovereignty of God

MAIN THRUST: SET YOUR MIND TOWARD HOLY, THANKFUL LIVING AIMED TO PLEASE THE ONE ABOVE.

MAIN THOUGHT CONCERNING CHRIST: ALL SUFFICIENT

MAIN THOUGHT CONCERNING GOD: HE'S IN THE DRIVER'S SEAT

KEY VERSES:

1:9,10 "For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, 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 may 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;"

1:28 "And we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ."