CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
Colossians 4:2. Watch in the same.—“Being wakeful.” Here again the apostle changes his language from that used in enjoining the same precepts in Ephesians. Remaining sleepless (Ephesians 6:18) is the same thing as being wakeful.
Colossians 4:3. A door of utterance.—R.V. “a door for the word.” The word of God cannot be bound, though its messenger may; but St. Paul can scarcely think its being glorified comes so quickly as it would if he had liberty to preach it. “An open door” with “many adversaries” is more to St. Paul’s mind than the custodia libera. See Ephesians 6:19-20.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Colossians 4:2-4
The Efficacy of Prayer.
Prayer is a supreme necessity of the soul. It is the cry of conscious want, an outlet for the pent-up feelings, and a mighty engine of power in all spiritual enterprises. It is the holiest exercise of the believer, his solace in trouble, his support in weakness, the solver of his doubts and perplexities, his safety in peril, his unfailing resource in adversity, his balance in prosperity, his weapon in every conflict. It is the key which opens the door of the heavenly treasury, and places at his disposal the boundless wealth of the divine beneficence. The efficacy of prayer does not terminate in the individual petitioner, but extends to others on whose behalf supplication is made. God hears the cry of the believing suppliant, and in some way, not always explicable to us, but in harmony with His divine perfections and the fitness of things, answers and blesses. The apostle knew the value and power of prayer when earnestly and humbly exercised, and, after giving directions concerning the discharge of certain specific relative duties, he returns, in concluding this epistle, to some general admonitions in which this important duty holds a foremost place. Prayer, says Thomas Aquinas, should have three qualities: it should be assiduous, watchful, and grateful. The perseverance with which prayer uninterruptedly draws itself through all events, internal and external, like a thread, or encircles them like a chain, is its vital power; the watchfulness, the lively circumspection, the gratitude, are the quiet tone or firm basis of the same.
I. That prayer to be efficacious must be earnest and unceasing.—“Continue in prayer” (Colossians 4:2). The heart must be in the duty and all the best powers of the man put forth. That in which we have no interest will stir no feeling, will challenge no effort. To repeat a verbal formulary is not prayer. Alas! how many thousand prayers go no farther than the sound they make, and are as useless! Genuine prayer involves thought, diligent inquiry, passionate entreaty, unwearied perseverance. The highest blessings of the Christian life, the brightest visions of God, the deepest insight into truth, the most enravishing ecstasies of the soul, are obtained only by fervent and persistent wrestling. Prayer must be offered with close-cleaving constancy, as the word “continue” implies, and with daily frequency. Let prayer be the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening.
II. That prayer to be efficacious must be joined with vigilance.—“And watch in the same” (Colossians 4:2). Long, prosy, spiritless prayers lull the soul into a dangerous slumber; and without incessant watchfulness all prayers are apt to become long, prosy, and spiritless. It is not necessary we should rob ourselves of needful sleep in order to spend so many hours in formal devotion. The vigilance refers to the spirit and manner in which all prayer is to be offered. There may be times when, under the pressure of some great solicitude, the soul is drawn out in prayer so as to preclude sleep; but at these times the quality of watchfulness is often in most vigorous operation. Watch, as a sentinel suspecting the approach of an enemy; as a physician attending to all the symptoms of a disease; as the keeper of a prison watching an insidious and treacherous criminal. We have need to watch against the temptations arising from worldly associations, from the sinfulness of our own hearts, and from the vile insinuations of the enemy, all which mar the efficacy of our prayers. Chrysostom says, “The devil knoweth how great a good prayer is.” No wonder he should seek to distract the mind of the earnest suppliant. “Prayer,” said Bernard, “is a virtue that prevaileth against all temptations;” but this is so only when a sleepless vigilance is exercised.
III. That prayer to be efficacious must be mingled with gratitude.—“With thanksgiving” (Colossians 4:2). The apostle has, throughout the epistle, repeatedly enforced the duty of thankfulness. He once more recurs to it in this place; and we cannot fail to note the vast importance he attached to the exercise of this grace, and how it ought to interpenetrate every Christian duty. We are ever more ready to grumble than to give thanks. Such is the deceitfulness of sin, or the vanity and purblindness of the human heart, that the very regularity and abundance of the divine mercies, instead of increasing, are apt to restrict our gratitude. We take, as a matter of course, what ought to be received with humblest thankfulness. An old writer has well said, Need will make us beggars, but grace only thanksgivers. Gratitude opens the hand of God to give, and the heart of the suppliant to receive aright. Thankfulness for past mercies is an important condition of success in pleading for additional blessings.
IV. That prayer is efficacious in promoting an efficient declaration of the gospel.—
1. Prayer should be offered on behalf of Christian ministers. “Withal praying also for us” (Colossians 4:3). The Colossians were exhorted to pray, not only for Paul, his fellow-labourer Timothy, and their own evangelist Epaphras, but for all teachers of the gospel. The preacher is engaged in a work of vast magnitude, environed with colossal difficulties, and is himself ferociously assailed by great and peculiar perils. The earnest intercessions of a devout and holy people are to him a safeguard and a tower of strength. A once popular minister gradually lost his influence and congregation. The blame was laid entirely upon him. Some of his Church officials went to talk with him on the subject. He replied: “I am quite sensible to all you say, for I feel it to be true; and the reason of it is, I have lost my prayer-book.” He explained: “Once my preaching was acceptable, many were edified by it, and numbers were added to the Church, which was then in a prosperous state. But we were then a praying people. Prayer was restrained, and the present condition of things followed. Let us return to the same means, and the same results may be expected.” They acted upon this suggestion, and in a short time the minister was as popular as he had ever been, and the Church was again in a flourishing state. The great apostle felt the necessity of co-operative sympathy and prayer (Romans 15:30; 2 Thessalonians 3:1).
2. Prayer should be offered that the most prominent features of the gospel may be declared.—“To speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds” (Colossians 4:3). It has before been explained in this epistle that the mystery of Christ is a grand summary of all the leading truths of the gospel: the mystery of the incarnation of Christ, the mystery of His sufferings and death as a sacrifice for sin, the mystery of admitting the Gentiles on equal terms with the Jews to all the privileges and blessings of the new covenant. It was the apostle’s intrepid advocacy of the rights of the despised Gentile—maugre the fierce bigotry of his own countrymen, the deep-seated prejudice of the times, and even the slavish indifference of the Gentiles themselves—which led to his imprisonment: “for which I am also in bonds.” The prayers of the good give the preacher courage to declare all the counsel of God, whether it be palatable or not, and to give special prominence to those truths which are of priceless importance to humanity.
3. Prayer should be offered, that opportunity may be afforded for the free declaration of the gospel.—“That God would open unto us a door of utterance” (Colossians 4:3). The door had been closed and barred to the apostle for four years by his imprisonment. He felt a holy impatience to be free, that he might resume the loved labour of former years, when “from Jerusalem and round about unto Illyricum he had fully preached the gospel of Christ.” But he waited till the door was opened by divine providence; and this he knew was often done in answer to believing prayer. So there are times, in all ages of the Church, when the door of opportunity for disseminating the gospel is shut by the opposition of the world, by the plottings of Satan, by the prevalence of a rabid infidelity, or by the removal of eminent champions for the truth; but, in response to the earnest intercessions of God’s people, a great and effectual door is opened, and the Church advances to fresh conquests.
4. Prayer should be offered that the gospel may be declared with fearless self-evidencing power.—“That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak” (Colossians 4:4). There are some who preach the gospel in a cold, lifeless, perfunctory manner, or with unmeaning feebleness and unmanly timidity. When the preacher sinks down into a condition so abject as this, he has lost sight of the true meaning of the gospel, he becomes the most pitiable object under the sun, and is exposed to the scathing vengeance of heaven. To preach the gospel with clearness, with intrepidity, and with irresistible persuasiveness, that he “may make it manifest, as he ought to speak,” demands the best energies of the soul, and, above all, the special endowments of the Holy Ghost. A minister is mightily aided in preaching by the wrestling intercessions of a holy and sympathetic people.
Lessons.—
1. Prayer is an excellent training for efficiency in all other duties.
2. Prayer is a gigantic power in the propagation of the gospel.
3. The topics for prayer are vast in range and not far to seek.
4. When you can do nothing else you can pray.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
Colossians 4:2. True Devotion.
I. Explain the meaning of the text.—It is:—
1. Not to be engaged without intermission in outward and formal acts of devotion.—This is inconsistent with our nature, with commanded duties, with the ends of prayer.
2. To be frequently engaged in formal acts of devotion.—
(1) No exercise more hallowing and soothing to the soul.
(2) None more profitable as procuring blessings.
(3) One to which those whose example is recorded gave a prominent place—Job, David, Daniel, Paul, Christ.
(4) Morning, evening, intervals, social.
3. To be persevering and importunate in asking particular blessings.—God does not always send sensibly the answer at once. A deeper sense of want may be necessary. A trial of faith, patience, and submissiveness may be expedient. The proper season may not have come. God’s sovereignty must be owned. We ought to assure ourselves that we pray according to God’s will.
II. Enforce the exhortation.—
1. Because you are commanded to do so.
2. Because Christ and the Spirit intercede for you. There is no duty for which there is more ample assistance provided.
3. Because of the number and greatness of your wants. It is by faith that we know our wants. Hence the necessity.
4. Because of the exhaustless provision that God has made for you. God acts as God in the provision and in the bestowal.
5. Because of the number of promises not yet fulfilled. To you individually, to the Church, to Christ.
6. Because the season for prayer is speedily hastening away.—Stewart.
Colossians 4:3-4. Praying and Preaching.
I. The sermon is powerful that is well prayed over (Colossians 4:4).
II. A praying preacher uses every available opportunity to proclaim the truth (Colossians 4:3).
III. The theme of the preacher becomes more definite and effective by prayer (Colossians 4:3).