Well, let us turn to this epistle
to the Colossians. We turn not to the portion that
we read, but to the last chapter, chapter 4. And I want to direct
you for a while to the words that we find here in verses 12
and 13. The prayer of Epaphras. Colossians chapter 4 and verses
12 and 13. Epaphras, who is one of you,
a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always laboring fervently
for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in
all the will of God. For I bear him record that he
hath a great zeal for you. and them that are in Laodicea
and them in Hierapolis. The prayer then of this man Epaphras
who Paul speaks of of course in the opening chapter, the portion
that we read and he was very much one of the Colossians, as
he says here in verse 12, Epaphras, who is one of you. It was principally a gentile
church situated in Asia Minor where what we would now call
the land of Turkey and it was quite close to these other places
that are mentioned in verse 13 near to Laodicea and Hierapolis. And of course in the book of
the Revelation one of the seven letters is addressed to the Laodicean
church. Now in the context It's the last
chapter and as Paul is wont to do as he comes to a conclusion
he will often make reference to those various individuals
who assisted him in all the work of the ministry. He would send
greetings to the churches from these various men and women. And previously here he mentions
three people. In verses 10 and 11 it says,
Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, saluteth you, and Marcus, sisters
unto Barnabas, touching whom ye receive commandments, if he
come unto you, receive him. And Jesus, which is called Justice,
who are of the circumcision, these only are my fellow workers
unto the kingdom of God which have been a comfort unto me."
So these three men were evidently Jews, Jewish believers, those
Jews who had come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and so
they're referred to here in verse 11 as being of the circumcision. And these were the men who had
stood with Paul. So many of the Jews, of course,
opposed him, and opposed him oftentimes with great violence. For example, when he's at Corinth,
there in Acts chapter 18, and verses 5 and 6, he mentions Silas, And Timotheus would come from
Macedonia, and Paul was pressed in the spirit and testified to
the Jews that Jesus was Christ. And when they opposed themselves
and blasphemed, he shook his raiment and said unto them, Your
blood be upon your own heads. I am clean. From henceforth I
will go unto the Gentiles. He is one, of course, called
to be the apostle to the Gentiles. And so there he turns from the
Jews because of their bitter opposition to the message of
the gospel that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of God. But there were those like himself
who were Jews, born again of the Spirit of God, who came to
faith in Christ. And that was the case with these
three, Aristarchus and Marcus, and just as they were true spiritual
Jews. Remember, he is not a Jew which
is one outwardly, neither is circumcision that which is outward
in the flesh, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision
is that of the Spirit. It's not in the letter. It's
a work of the Spirit of God. that was necessary in the soul
of a man to make him a true spiritual Jew, not the outward circumcision,
but that circumcision of the heart. But Epaphras is spoken
of not as being of the circumcision, but is one of you, says Paul
to these Colossians. And as I said, it is principally
a Gentile church, so it does seem that this man himself was
a Gentile believer. The one who was of great help
and assistance to the Apostle Paul. And he was the man, it seems,
who was really instrumental in the establishing of this church
at Colossae at the very beginning. As I said just now, he's mentioned
in that portion that we read in the first chapter. Paul writes
there, verse 4, Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus
and of the love which he had to all the saints, for the hope
which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the
word of the truth of the gospel, which is come unto you, as it
is in all the world, and bringeth forth fruit, as it hath also
in you since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of
God in truth, as ye also learned of Epaphras, a dear fellow-servant,
and who is for you a faithful minister of Christ." So Paul
speaks of him there as that one who was there Their ministry
had preached, it would seem, the gospel to them. They'd come
to saving faith. Paul himself had never seen them. He'd never been to Colossae.
He says there at the beginning of chapter 2, I would that ye
knew what great conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea,
and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh. Paul had never been there, he'd
never seen them, but he'd heard from his fellow labourers, and
he often prayed for them, as he indicates, again in that opening
chapter, verse 3, he says, We give thanks to God and the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying also for you. And again at verse 9, for this
cause we also since the day we heard it do not cease to pray
for you and to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge
of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. And as Paul was wont to labour
in prayer for them, so he wants them also to pray for him. Here
in the second verse of the last chapter, continuing prayer, he
says, and watching the same with thanksgiving with all 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. Now, we get the sense then of
this fellowship that there was between these various men and
women, these early believers, and they were much in prayer
one for another, though they'd not heard oftentimes or seen
each other. There was some sort of network
whereby information was passed from one church to another, from
one group of believers to another group of believers. But as I
said, as we turn to verses 12 and 13, I really want to consider
something of the prayer of this man of Patras. He says, Epaphras,
who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always
laboring fervently for you in prayers, that she may stand perfect
and complete in all the will of God. For I bear him record
that he hath a great zeal for you, and them that are in Laodicea,
and them in Hierapolis. Three things I want to mention
with regards to his prayer. First of all the manner of his
praying and Paul speaks very specifically of that. He speaks
of him always laboring fervently for you in prayers." There was
nothing cold and nothing formal with regards to the way in which
this man prayed for these Colossians. He was clearly a man who was
greatly burdened for them. He had been instrumental in preaching
the gospel. They're a colossi. And he'd followed
up his preaching with a great deal of praying. how Paul speaks
of him laboring. The margin says, striving, fervently. And it's interesting because
that word that we have, fervently, has the basic meaning of agony. It's derived from the Greek word
agone, which really is the root of our word, agony. He agonizes for them in prayer. That's what Paul is saying. He
agonizes for them. He was truly a spiritual Israelite. Oh, remember Jacob, there in
Genesis 32, we read of him wrestling with the angel of the Lord at
Pena. That angel was none other than
the Lord Jesus Christ, that's why he called the place Peniel,
it literally means the face of God. He felt that he had been
wrestling with God, he'd seen the face of God in that sense.
You think of the lines of the hymn of John Newton, wrestling
prayer can wonders do bring relief in deepest straits, prayers can
force the passage through iron bars and brazen gates. Now the record that we have in
that 32nd chapter of the book of Genesis tells us what Jacob's
prayer was and remember the angel touches him in the hollow of
his thigh, his leg and he can no more wrestle. But what does he do? He begins
to cleave. Disabled from wrestling, Jacob
began to cleave. He took to cleaving.
I will not let thee go, he says to the angel. I will not let
thee go except thou bless me. And so It was there at Penyan,
of course, that his name was changed. The name given to him
was Jacob the supplanter. He had supplanted his older brother,
his older twin brother Esau. He'd taken hold of his hill even
as they came forth from their mother's womb. He'd supplanted
his brother. He'd stolen the birthright in
that sense. But no more was he to be called
the supplanter, but now he was to be called Israel, a prince
with gods, because he dressed with the angel and he had prevails. Now we know they're not all Israel,
that are of Israel, but surely here we see that this man, Epaphras,
A Gentile by birth was a spiritual Jew and a spiritual Israelite. As the Lord says of Nathanael
there in the opening chapter of John, Nathanael was an Israelite
indeed, in whom there is no guile. Well, couldn't the same also
be said of this man? He was an Israelite indeed. How
he prayed! or the manner of this man's praying,
always laboring fervently for you in prayers, says the Apostle,
agonizing. He is one who is a real follower
of the Lord Jesus Christ, because we have the record in Scripture
of the prayers even of the Lord Jesus, especially there in the
Garden of Gethsemane Remember what we're told in Luke 22, being
in an agony. He prayed more earnestly and
his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. How Christ
himself agonized in his prayers. And this man was also one who,
as I said, was agonizing in his prayers. This was the method
then of his praying. In the second place, we learn
something of the design of his prayers. Here in this twelfth verse the
last clause is really a purpose clause. What does it say? He prays fervently that ye may
stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. It's a purpose
clause, literally he's praying in order that Well, this is what
he's aiming at with his prayers. In order that ye may stand perfect
and complete in all the will of God. There's a point to his
prayers. He doesn't just thrash about, but he is praying for
something very specifically. There's an aim here. And we can
observe two things. He speaks, does Paul, of them
standing perfect and complete. standing perfect and complete.
No, such standing as that is only to be found in the Lord
Jesus Christ. We cannot stand perfect and complete
of ourselves. On the contrary, we're all unclean. In us that is in our flesh there
dwells no Good thing. What do we read here in chapter
2? And verse 9 concerning Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in him, which is
the head of all principality and power. And then previously
there at verse 3. In whom are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. if we're those who would stand
before God, we can only stand in Christ, that justifying righteousness. It's the righteousness of Christ.
He is the Lord, our righteousness. And now, time and again, as he
writes in his epistle to the Romans, Paul is emphasizing that
great truth of justifying righteousness. There at the end of verse 13,
Romans 9, he speaks of the righteousness which is of faith. And why does
he emphasize that truth in that epistle? Because that was Paul's
own experience. He states it very clearly in
Philippians 3, 9, his one desire to be found in him, to be found
in Christ, not having mine own righteousness which is of the
law, but that which is through the faith of Christ. the righteousness
which is of God by faith once he was a pharisee, he was a son
of a pharisee he lived the life of a pharisee he imagined he
had a righteousness of his own he could say that touching the
righteousness which is of the Lord he once thought he was blameless
but now he learnt that he was full, his heart was full of all
sinful desire, all concupiscence The only standing for the sinner
then is in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where we stand perfect
and complete. But what it says here, more specifically,
it speaks of his desire, his prayer for them that they may
stand perfect and complete in all the will of God, rather than
justification. is speaking more specifically
of sanctification. Perfect and complete in all the
will of God. Paul, writing in his epistle
to the Ephesians, Ephesians 5.17 says, Wherefore be not unwise,
but understanding what the will of the Lord is and that's so important to those
who are the Lord's people to be transformed renewed in
their very minds that they might understand what is that good
and perfect will of God the language that we have there when Paul
begins the more practical The part of his epistle to the Romans, beginning of chapter 12, be not
conformed to this world, he says, but be you transformed by the
renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and
acceptable and perfect will of God. Be not unwise. The believer is to understand
what the will of the Lord is and what is the will of the Lord
for his people. 1 Thessalonians 4 and verse 3,
this is the will of God, even your sanctification. And so here he is praying very
much for their sanctification that she may stand perfect and
complete in all the will of God. Are we not to be those who would
in our prayers continually pray that God's will might be accomplished,
that God's will might be done. In the pattern prayer that the
Lord has given to us, isn't that one of the petitions that we're
to pray? We're familiar, I'm sure, with
the language of that prayer. We should make it a model for
our praying, it's a pattern prayer after this manner therefore praying
says the Lord thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as
it is in heaven and see how Paul when he prays for them, we've
already referred to it in chapter 1 at verse 9 For this cause we
also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for
you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge
of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that
ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all, pleasing, being fruitful
in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God." Isn't
Paul himself praying for their for their sanctification, that
they might be those who are concerned to do the will of God, and where
is God's will revealed? In his word, and in the gospel,
because the gospel isn't just made up of promise, it is the
great promise of God. But there are gospel precepts.
And we're not to be those who would be partial. We should embrace
the totality of what God has given to us here in the gospel
of his grace. were to seek then to do the will
of God. Or the preaching of Christ himself
in the Sermon on the Mount, Not every one that saith unto me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into heaven, but he that doeth the
will of my Father which is in heaven. How important this praying
is then. Paul prays, And Epaphras prays and prays
for these Colossians that their standing, their justification,
of course, is all together in Christ by faith, but also the
desire is for their sanctification, that their lives might conform
more and more to that image of Christ, that they might be those
who are concerned to do the will of God. And how important this
prayer is in relation to to the preaching of the Word of God.
Again, in the opening chapter, in verse
28, Paul says, concerning Christ whom we preach, warning every
man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present
every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Oh, that is the great aim, isn't
it, of the miniature of the Word, that sinners might be converted,
and that they might be presented to God perfect in Christ Jesus. The great message that we see
there throughout the Acts in the preaching of the Apostles,
I think in particular of Acts 13, and the preaching of Paul
there at Antioch in Pisidia, is preaching that message of
justification by faith. That is where the sinner stands
perfect in Christ Jesus when Christ's righteousness is imputed.
But what is the proof of justification? Does it not go hand in hand with
sanctification? And so Epaphras here in his prayer
is one of you, a servant of Christ. He salutes you, always laboring
fervently for you in prayers that you may stand perfect and
complete in all the will of God. Well, this is the design then
of his prayer. He is seeking something very
definite as he prays for the believers at Colossae. And then
finally to say something with regards to the consequence of
his prayers. So far as he himself is concerned,
what does Paul say in verse 13? Well, Paul saw something of the
effect upon this man I bear him record that he had a great zeal
for you and them that are in Laodicea and them in Hierapolis
he has great zeal and the word that we have here also has the
idea of him being distressed and suffering and in pain he's
wearing himself out He has great zeal, and now he's had zeal evidenced
in his agonizing prayers on their behalf. Wearing himself out in
prayers. Now, searching God's Word is,
because we have to ask ourselves, don't we, how costly is our praying? What do we know
of agony in prayer? And zeal in prayer? how we have to beware don't we
of any lukewarmness and so often one feels to be so lukewarm and
as I said one of the letters there in the Revelation the last
of those seven letters is to the church of the Laodiceans
Laodicea and Hierapolis and Colossae all in the same area the same
region there in Asia Minor And the Lord says to that church,
Revelation 3.16, Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold
nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. I was very struck historically,
you see, the comment that's made by Bishop Davenant in his great
commentary on this letter to the Colossians. And the Bishop
just makes the observation that the country of Asia Minor was
seized and subverted by Mohammedan superstitions and Turkish tyranny. Very solemn when you think of
what the Lord says there at the end of those letters to the seven
churches of Asia Minor, to the church at Laodicea, they were
They were lukewarm. They were neither hot nor cold.
And the Lord speaks of spewing them out of His mouth. And historically,
what is there of any real Christian witness in that region today?
There were churches established there by the ministry of the
apostles and the ministry of a man like Epaphras. And yet,
in the subsequent generations, what of our generations? or that
we might learn then of such a character as this man of whom the apostle
speaks. So much of profit in even the closing verses of these
epistles of Paul when he speaks of these various individuals,
epaphras. One of you, the servant of Christ,
saluteth you always, laboring, striving, fervently, agonizing,
for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in
all the will of God. For I bear him record that he
hath great zeal for you and them that are in Laodicea and them
in Hierapolis." May the Lord bless His Word to us and help
us as we turn to Him again in prayer. But before we pray, let's
praise God as we sing the hymn 397, the tune Weber 519. In themselves as weak as worms,
how can poor believers stand when temptations, foes and storms
press them close on every hand? Wrestling prayer and wonders
do bring relief. In deepest straits, prayer can
force the passage through iron bars and brazen gates 397 June
519