- Colossians 4:1-6
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- Col 4:1 (KJB)
- Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and
equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.
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- Servants - Slaves
- Knowing - Know fully or understand
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- Paul instructs the masters who owned slaves that they were to be fair
and equitable to them. Paul makes sure they know that they too have a Master
in heaven who will be fair and equitable with them. Apparently Paul is
speaking to those masters who are saved. Sometimes the masters and the
slaves worshipped in the same assemblies and preference in certain things
may have been given to the masters. We see this practice today in the
churches. If a rich man walks in, they are overly greeted and when a poor
man walks in, they are greeted.
(James
2:2-3 KJV) For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in
goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; {3}
And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto
him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there,
or sit here under my footstool: James wrote of
this evil practice where the rich are exalted and the poor are abased. In
today’s churches who gets the best treatment? It is not the poor but the
rich. (James 2:5-6 KJV) Hearken, my
beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith,
and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?
{6} But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you,
and draw you before the judgment seats? James continues
on by stating that the rich are the ones who cause the most problems for the
Christians. He also states that the poor of this world are the greatest in
faith, therefore when it comes to a spiritual situation, those with the
greatest spirituality and not the deepest pockets should be consulted.
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- Col 4:2 (KJB)
- Continue
in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;
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- Continue - Persist in or remain devoted to
- Watch - Be vigilant and be alert
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- Paul gives this instruction that the Christians, whether slaves or
masters must persist in prayer. The word “continue” is in the Imperative
mood making it a command. Dr. Robert A. Cook used to tell his students when
he was President of the Kings College “to pray your way through the day.”
Here Paul is teaching them that prayer is not to be a dreaded, half-hearted
practice. He is teaching them that prayer needs to be done with the idea of
being vigilant and to not become a routine matter. He also teaches that
thanksgiving to God must accompany each prayer.
(Phil
4:6 KJV) Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
Philippians 4:6 teaches us that anxiety is reduced
according to the way we pray. We will continue to be anxious if our prayers
are just cold repetitions but if we remain truly vigilant in prayer, then we
will watch our anxiety level drop as we transfer our burdens to the Lord. We
continue to remain alert when situations arise in our life and then we take
those concerns to the Lord.
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- Col 4:3 (KJB)
- Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of
utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds:
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- Of utterance - Proclamation, words, speech
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- Paul never feared to ask people to pray for him. It was not for selfish
reasons that Paul asked but he was praying that God would open a door to
preach the Gospel, which is the mystery of Christ. Paul was in prison
because of his gospel witness but nevertheless desired that God would move
somehow to continue to get the Gospel out. If you notice, the word “us” is
used which may indicate Paul’s colleagues which are mentioned later in this
letter. By including in this letter that Paul was in bonds, he was relaying
to his readers that he was willing to suffer for the sake of Christ and the
Gospel. We can pray a prayer similar to Paul’s where he hoped to see the
Gospel go forth but it may not happen the way we think it should. God will
work out all the details on how He chooses to answer that prayer. Remember
His thoughts and ways are not our thoughts and ways, they are higher than
ours.
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- Col 4:4 (KJB)
- That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.
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- Ought - It is necessary, must, compels
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- Paul’s desire is to make the mystery of Christ known so others may
experience the same thing which he has. Paul would speak about it in a
pastoral way and the Spirit of God would apply it to the individual. Paul
had a great desire to preach the word to as many as possible but he was
hindered because of his prison sentence. Having the Holy Spirit indwelling
you makes you want to speak about the Gospel all the time, it was a
compelling thing for Paul.
(Jer 20:9
KJV) Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his
name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my
bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not
stay. Jeremiah
had the same overwhelming desire to preach the Gospel. He said he would no
more speak the name of the Lord to Judah but the word of God burned in him
and he had to continue. The word of God burned inside Paul also and he felt
compelled to continue to preach the Word. When a true Christian does not
have the desire to preach the word or support those who preach it, then
something is drastically wrong. The true Christian will have a strong desire
to proclaim the Word of God.
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- Col 4:5 (KJB)
- Walk
in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming
the time.
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- Walk - Live or conduct oneself
- Them that are without - Figuratively those who are unsaved
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- Redeeming - Deliver or buy back - Figuratively making the best use of
time
- Christians are not only to walk in wisdom toward those who are
Christians but we are also to maintain a good testimony to those who are
unbelievers. Unbelievers seek to find any wrong thing, no matter how small
it is so they can make an accusation against the Christian and discredit
them. This is why we are to abstain from all appearances of evil, because
only the appearance of doing something wrong is enough to scar a reputation
for good. Christians must redeem the time, that is, they must make the best
use of the time the Lord has given us.
(Psa
90:12 KJV) So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our
hearts unto wisdom. We must learn to number our days.
We must realize that we only have a certain amount of time on this earth and
it should not be tied up with the things of the world. Christians can best
redeem the time becoming involved with some phase of the Lord’s work,
whether it be proclaiming the word, or helping to train the next generation,
or whatever. Christians need to occupy the time by not wasting it on worldly
adventures but to be involved in sending forth the Gospel.
(Mark 16:15 KJV) And he said unto them, Go ye
into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
We are commanded to go into the world and proclaim the
Gospel. I became saved at 27 and today as I write this I am 55. I look back
and wonder in amazement how fast the 28 years have flown by. Don’t think
because you are 18 or 25 that the clock has stopped ticking on you. If you
are younger, now is the time to begin your ministry.
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- Col 4:6 (KJB)
- Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye
may know how ye ought to answer every man.
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- The Christian must always have a tone of grace in their speech. The
Christian should be in conversation about the things of the Lord and not
about worldly things such as sports. If a person knows more about sports
than they do the Bible, how can they give an answer to every man? The truth
is they cannot and that is the problem permeating the church today. The
majority of Christians are filled with the words of men because books are
always being advocated from the pulpit. Instead of instructing the
Christians in the pews to get to know their Bibles, they are instructed to
read the works of man on subjects such as apologetics, theology, sociology,
urban studies, psychology, philosophy and almost every other subject which
Satan can use to draw Christians away from the Scriptures.
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- To season something with salt speaks of preservation and in the case of
Christians, eternal preservation. Let us take a quick look at Mark 9:49-50
concerning salt from a different vantage point.
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- (Mark 9:49-50 KJV) For every one shall be
salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. {50}
Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will
ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.
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- Those whom the Lord was speaking about in the previous verses in Mark 9,
are those who are unsaved and if they remain unsaved they shall be cast into
eternal Hell. The fact that they will be salted with fire means they will be
tormented in the flames of eternal damnation for eternity. Then the Lord
uses the same analogy but a different group of people are in view. The first
half of the verse deals with unbelievers that He previously spoke of but now
there is a different application for the same principle.
(1 Pet 1:7 KJV) That the trial of your faith,
being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried
with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing
of Jesus Christ: Every true believer is considered
a sacrifice. (Rom 12:1 KJV) I beseech
you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies
a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your
reasonable service. As the unbeliever in hell is
salted with the fire of judgment, the believer as a living sacrifice is
salted with the fire of trials as we read in 1 Peter 1:7 and 1 Peter 4:12.
(1 Pet 4:12 KJV) Beloved, think it not
strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some
strange thing happened unto you:
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- As salt is used as a preservative, as believers we have the salt of the
Gospel within us.
(Num 18:19 KJV) All
the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer
unto the LORD, have I given thee, and thy sons and thy daughters with thee,
by a statute for ever: it is a covenant of salt for ever before the
LORD unto thee and to thy seed with thee. In
Numbers 18:19, God speaks of a covenant of salt, but that covenant is one of
eternal nature. The only covenant which lasts throughout eternity is the
covenant of grace, so here in Numbers 18:19, the covenant of salt has
foreshadowed the covenant of grace in that it is an eternally preserving
covenant. (Jude 1:1 KJV) Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and
brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and
preserved in Jesus Christ, and called: Jude 1
speaks about those who are sanctified by God and that would be the
believers, and then the verse goes on to say that they are preserved in
Jesus Christ and that is exactly what the second half of Mark 9:49 is
speaking about when it speaks about every sacrifice being salted with salt.
It is giving a great promise that Christians will be preserved in Christ
Jesus forever.
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