Colossians 4:1-18

Communication is one of the most important aspects of any relationship.  Marriages, friendships, professional relationships and parent/child relationships are all forged on the anvil of communication.  The same is true of our relationship with God.  Without good and consistent communication, relationships will flounder and fail.  Paul teaches us some vital communication principles that we can apply to a variety of relationships.

COMMUNICATION WITH GOD: Prayer is one of the most neglected disciplines in the lives of many believers today.  Paul takes the time to teach us how we should pray as well as what we should pray.  First of all he tells us that we should pray with consistency.  We must be devoted to prayer and strive to continue praying throughout the tasks of each day.  I believe that the biggest hindrance to prayers is simply that we do not pray nearly as much as we should.  Second Paul says that we need to concentrate when we pray.  It is so easy to allow our minds to wander when we pray.  Paul says to keep watch and be alert like someone who is on guard.  Besides a failure to pray, I believe that a lack of focus when we pray is the next biggest enemy to effective prayer.  We must do whatever it takes to concentrate when we pray, whether that be praying out loud, writing our prayers or standing up and walking as we pray, whatever it takes to stay alert.  Third, Paul tells us to be considerate when we pray and remember to thank God for all of the blessings He has given us.  We must not fall into the trap of looking at God as if He were some sort of Santa Claus in the sky that just gives us all we want.  We must develop a spirit of thanks giving.  Paul then turns to teaching us what to pray.  He starts by asking us to pray for open doors.  I am amazed that Paul is sitting in prison and asking for open doors to preach the Gospel and not asking for the prison doors to open.  Paul was not nearly so concerned about his own comfort as he was about the progress of the Gospel.  Paul’s second prayer request was for Open hearts, that the people to who he spoke would have a clear understanding of the Gospel and that he would have an ability to make the message clear.  Paul’s final prayers request was for an open mouth, that God would give him boldness to speak the Gospel without fear despite the persecution that he might face.  We would do well to remember to pray for the Gospel above our personal desires.

COMMUNICATION WITH UNBELIEVERS:  We will constantly be faced with situations where we need to communicate with those who do not know Christ.  This is always a challenge for us and so we must depend on the Lord to help us in these situations.  Paul’s recommendation is that we use wisdom when speaking with those who are outside of the body of Christ.  Even though they might speak to us in a rude way, we must seek to respond to them with wisdom and know how to show them the love of Christ with our speech and dealings with them.  Paul goes on to tell us that we must have our speech seasoned with grace in our dealings with those who do not believe.  We must be patient and not allow their profanity or their dishonesty to become and excuse for us to lose our temper and our testimony because we do not appreciate their speech.  We must not expect unbelievers to speak like believers and we should not be surprised with the lost act and talk like those who are without hope in the world.  We must surprise them with graciousness that will cause them to long for that which God has graciously provided in our lives.

COMMUNICATION WITH BELIEVERS: Paul concludes this letter with a long series of greetings to and from many coworkers and friends that were with him or in the church.  It is a blessing to see the open and honest as well as productive communication that was taking place between Paul and his brothers and sisters in Christ.  Their speech was a combination of instructions and declarations of affection.  May we be effective at communication with each other in these same ways.  We should have complete liberty to instruct and admonish one another according to the Word of God, but we also should feel free to express our love for one another.  Instruction without expressions of love can be cold an ineffective.  Expressions of love without instructions can leave people with warm feelings but without direction in their walk with the Lord.  As believers, we must seek to maintain our communication with one another in the proper balance between admonition and admiration.