Colossians Bible Study Day 14 of 14

Read Colossians 4:7-18

7 Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. 8 I am sending him to you for the express purpose that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts. 9 He is coming with Onesimus, our faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. They will tell you everything that is happening here.

10 My fellow prisoner Aristarchus sends you his greetings, as does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas. (You have received instructions about him; if he comes to you, welcome him.) 11 Jesus, who is called Justus, also sends greetings. These are the only Jews among my co-workers for the kingdom of God, and they have proved a comfort to me. 12 Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. 13 I vouch for him that he is working hard for you and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis. 14 Our dear friend Luke, the doctor, and Demas send greetings. 15 Give my greetings to the brothers and sisters at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house.

16 After this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea.

17 Tell Archippus: “See to it that you complete the ministry you have received in the Lord.”

18 I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.

There is so much we can learn about the early church in this passage and then so much we can learn from each observation.

1. Paul did not travel alone
   • You are not called to spread the gospel by yourself. Jesus did not send out the disciples one by one, but in twos (Luke 10:1). Sharing Jesus is a team sport, so when you embark on a gospel mission take a friend or two with you *Ecclesiastes 4:12).
2. “…Nympha and the church in her house.” (Colossians 4:15)
   • Nympha was a female, and it was in her house that the church met. This observation shows us that the women were afforded a very prominent role in the early church, not just laymen membership.
   • Also, the church is not just a building that we go to; from the very beginning it was meant to impact one’s household.
3. “My fellow prisoner” (Colossians 4:10)
   • A phrase that should be an example to us all of what it looks like to make the most of every opportunity. While Paul is literally in prison, he has been exhorting, admonishing, and teaching the Christians in Collase (and us) about the Christian faith. He is encouraging us to walk the walk knowing that we may end up like him – behind bars and in chains.

Diving Deeper

Find two more observations and write down your own lessons.

1. _________________________
   • ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. _________________________
   • ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A Final Word

I hope you enjoyed this study on Colossians. It was my first time to write a devotional and I found it challenging, but rewarding. It required me to sit in each text longer and to dig deeper into each passage for patterns and emphasis that I would have not otherwise seen.

I hope you found out new and lovely things about God, you, and others.

For all of my deep divers, thank you! I hope you were blessed by the challenges and have been rewarded with a deeper relationship with Jesus. On Day 7, I asked you to think about a habit you need to stop or start; now is the time to take your first step in starting a new habit or removing an old vice.

If you enjoyed this Bible Study on Colossians please consider forwarding day 1 to your friends/family. 

Finally, below is a checklist for you to reflect on and be encouraged about all the things you accomplished during this study.

A Checklist

__ Prayed for fellow Christians
__ Read a chapter in the gospels
__ Memorized scripture (Colossians 1: 21-23)
__ Talked with someone in need of a loving friend
__ Exposed lies that you believed
__ Discovered themes in Paul’s letters to the Colossians
__ Stopped a bad habit
__ Started a good habit
__ Spent time doing something that brought you closer to God
__ Discovered what it looked like to focus your heart and mind on ‘things above’
__ Exposed some of your prejudices
__ Found out how God views you in Colossians 3:12
__ Changed your work habits
__ Learned about biblical slavery
__ Learned what it means to submit
__ Made a commitment to pray for missionaries for 10 days__ Learned about and from the early church

Grace be with you.

Colossians Bible Study Day 13 of 14

Read Colossians 4:2-6

2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

“…know how to answer everyone.” What a huge call! How can we do this? How can we know enough to be able to answer everyone?

The answer is actually pretty simple. If our conversations are full of grace we can answer everyone (v6).

I often like to tell myself that I need to learn more before I talk to others about Jesus. However, it is grace, not knowledge, that allows us the ability to answer everyone. 

So what does grace look like? Let me tell you a story about my sister, Hope.

Shortly after Hope acquired a used car she allowed me to drive it from the front of the house to the back driveway. I was still learning to drive, but this was a really simple trip and one that I had done before. Our street was in the shape of an L and I easily maneuvered through the road in front of the houses into the alleyway. As I was beginning to turn right at the elbow of the alley I accidentally hit the gas instead of the brake… and instead of turning I ended up putting the car through a neighbors’ fence…

I forgot to mention there was construction going on in the alley.

Bordering the alley (in seemingly random spots) were large 5’-7’ feet deep holes. AND yes, I did manage to drive into the fence directly over one of those holes, suspending the front two tires in the air. Hope’s car was front wheel drive meaning that not only did I wreck my sister’s brand new car, but I also stranded it in the air as well.

I remember waiting for Hope to yell, to cry, to be angry, but instead Hope looked at me and with genuine concern asked, “Are you okay?”

Hope’s love for me far exceeded the love of her new car. It far exceeded the unfortunate situation. Hope immediately cast out my offense against her and granted me undeserved love.

This is grace and it is wonderful.

God’s grace outmatches that. It exceeds the deepest of offenses and it is far more accessible. God offers undeserved love to anyone who is willing to receive it.

“Kindness has converted more sinners than zeal, eloquence, or learning.” ~ Frederick William Faber

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. John 13:35

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:8

Now go and may your conversations be full of grace.

Diving Deeper

Paul tells his readers three different times to pray in this passage of scripture alone, and even asks for prayers for him and his mission. Have you been praying for missionaries? They need it. Make a commitment to pray for them everyday for the next 10 days. If you know any missionaries let them know they were prayed for. They may really need some encouragement from back home.