Colossians Chapter 4 Verse 1

•I really love this statement by Paul! It lays out true leadership. “Masters….give.” Isn’t that amazing?! Isn’t that so very backwards to the world’s definition of master? The world’s definition and exhortation is, “Masters…take,” but God on high, Jesus Christ is unlike any worldly Master. His M-O is not to take from you but to give to you. Jesus said something so awesome once (well a bunch of times actually)…in John 15:15 Jesus said, “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.”

•He says, “Don’t call me Master any longer, call Me friend.” Why? Because of John 3:16! That God so loved the world, that He GAVE! This is true leadership! This is how to honor the Lord in all that you have been entrusted…and this is completely opposite and foreign to this world. Masters, give…and when you do…something wonderful occurs…communion is established. Relationship is cultivated and love rules the day!

•This is God’s heart for us church! (Turn over to Hosea 2 verses 14 – 23. Let THAT blow your mind!) He is our Leader! He is our God and our Hope, our Savior and our wonderful Counselor, Mighty Father, Prince of Peace…and in His absolute sovereignty and authority He inspires Paul to pen this one sentence that shatters and summarizes every book on effective leadership ever written! He says give…give what? Give what is just…the word is the same root word as the word righteous…give them Jesus!

•Honor the Lord in your leadership and lead in such a way as to exemplify the power of the cross and resurrection of Christ…and give them fair we read…equality in the Greek…bring them to a right and equal standing! And then Paul says, “Knowing that this is exactly what God has done for you!”

•We have an inheritance in heaven. A home waiting for us. A place for us…was it always ours? No! It was always His! Jesus is on the title deed of it all still…and yet God has served us…He has ministered to us…He has given to us…a shared inheritance with His only Son!

•2 Corinthians 8:14 is the only other place in the Bible where we find this specific word meaning equality and it reads, “By an equality, that now at this time your abundance may supply their lack, that their abundance also may supply your lack-that there may be equality.” Welcome to true, Godly, effective, surging forward, firing on all cylinders leadership! The world says extort their lack such that your authority and superiority is obvious when God says serve them, teach them, show them, train them such that what they lack may be filled and oh by the way, recognize that you have as much to learn from them as they do from you…

•And tying 2 Cor 8 and Col 4 together, God in His infinite abundance of righteousness looked upon His creation who was lost in lack, man…zero righteousness…and He supplied that lack through the perfect blood out of His own veins, man…Masters, give…if you understand at all what your Master has given…I LOVE THIS STATEMENT!

Colossians Chapter 4 Verses 2 – 4

•So Paul instructs as he gives the last few privileged commands of his teaching to the church there in Collase and he says pray! Spend time talking with the Lord, listening for the Lord…do it earnestly! Do it fervently! And he says something interesting here. He says and then…watch! I’m not sure why the translators have translated this word as “vigilant.” This word used 24 times in the Bible is translated “watch” 21 out of the 24 times and once as “wake up!”

•So Paul says pray! And as you continue in prayer about everything…just keeping that conversation constant with God, watch! Look for His hand and His action and His heart and His responses…look for Him! Because the truth is, we don’t pray and we don’t watch because we take God for granted! Not only is that just wrong but it’s also dangerous! Why? Because it causes us to not have an attitude of gratitude. And that stinks. I mean like literally. Grateful people are the sweetest, kindest, most joyful powerful and pleasant people to be around…And Paul says pray and watch for God. Be awake to Him in your life and thanksgiving will be added to you like its late November all the time! Turkey’s be scared when someone mentions your name!

•You say, “Well God’s just not that active or that obvious in my current situation.” That is so not true! You wake up today? You have the freedom today to choose what you’ll do? You have an appetite for food today? You have hot water today? Your iPod working today? Your car start today? Someone in this room or someone within the reach of phone call, email or text loves you? Not surface level fondness but they ain’t gonna let you go, ever? Take all that for granted don’t you? And time doesn’t permit me to continue but I could.

•We’ve been fed a lie. That you never know what you have until it’s gone. That’s a lie. That’s just what dumped people say to make themselves feel better, HA! You know what you have! And I know what I have. We’re just not grateful. And so we squander our blessings…Paul says, “wake up!” This precise word used in 1 Peter 5:8 as Peter says, “You better be awake! Because your adversary the devil, walks about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.” How do our lives get devoured? We are ungrateful…for what we have and what He has done…

•Paul’s plea is that they would pray for him as well…for his problems to go away…for him to get out of prison…nope…his heart’s desire is to serve the King…to be a slave of all…to make known the mystery of Christ. A true pastor’s heart.

Colossians Chapter 4 Verses 5 – 6

•What does it mean to walk in wisdom? That is to walk in the constant consciousness of God and the power and truth of His Word! That is how you redeem the time and let me tell you, that is not the norm in today’s Christianity…but it is the norm in Christianity!

•Salt adds flavor. It adds richness. It preserves. It makes others thirsty! Does what you say do this? Does it make others thirsty for more or just ready to get away from you? Paul says that if you walk in wisdom…this will be your natural condition.

Colossians Chapter 4 Verses 7 – 9

•These were most likely the letter carriers for Paul and it was probably Onesimus that came to Paul and told him what was going on in Collasse. You know, Paul was a soul winner, but man he was also a lover of people. Throughout his letters, over 100 people are greeted by Paul…

Colossians Chapter 4 Verses 10 – 11

•One person should stick out here and that is Mark. Remember the story from Acts 13? Mark had turned back during Paul’s first missionary journey…then at the second, Barnabas wanted to bring him again and Paul said no… Now, years later, Paul salutes him. Mark grew up and Paul forgave…great pattern.

Colossians Chapter 4 Verses 12 – 14

•Now tragically, right before Paul dies he pens in 2 Timothy 4:10 that Demas had forsaken him, having loved this present world…How interesting for the Holy Spirit to insert this dichotomy between Mark and Demas…Mark started poorly, finished strong…Demas the opposite…what happened? Demas took the things of God for granted. I see many Christians do this and they end up burning out…our walk is like a fire to be fed and when it stops being fed, it begins to die down to the point where it can be just left in ashes…

Colossians Chapter 4 Verses 15 – 17

•Nymphas was surging forward in his home church ministry while Archippus needed a little kick start…

Colossians Chapter 4 Verses 18

•Paul asks them to remember his authority…that he is not ministering to them to get their money or their approval but in chains…and in that, the most important thought, grace be with you…In other words…let the Gospel be the reason and the reminder of everything!

•It’s a beautiful book…from Christology, to apologetics…to practical Christian life and pointed application, this book leaves us with what we began with…