It's All About Jesus (Part 5) Series

It’s all about Jesus: Colossians 5

Scott Bayles, pastor

Blooming Grove Christian Church: 11/20/2016

For centuries—millennia even—the prevailing scientific theory was that we earthlings enjoyed center stage. On a clear summer night, a father could place his arm around his son, point to the heavens and proclaim, “The whole universe revolves around us.” But then came Nicholas Copernicus with his maps, drawing, star charts, Polish accent and pesky theories. He pointed a long finger toward the Sun and said, “Behold the center of our solar system.” People denied it for over half a century. When like-minded Galileo came along, they locked him up and kicked him out of the church. People didn’t take well to being demoted back then.

They still don’t.

What Copernicus did for the earth, God does for humanity. Tapping the collective shoulder of mankind, he points to the Son—his Son—and proclaims, “Behold the center of it all.” It’s all about Jesus.

These last few weeks we’ve been studying the book of Colossians, which is all about Jesus! And it’s not just this book; rather, life, the universe and everything revolves around Jesus! In the first chapter of Colossians, Paul describes Jesus as our creator, our commander and our connection to God the Father. In the second chapter, Paul assures us that Jesus is enough! We can find fulfillment and completeness in Jesus; in other words, if you have Jesus, you have everything! Throughout the rest of the book, Paul sketches out what the Christ-Centered life looks like. He talks about focusing on Jesus and clothing ourselves in Christ. He talks about how Jesus ought to alter our relationship with our spouse, our kids and our co-workers. Finally, as Paul brings this letter to a close he touches on three last aspects of the All-About-Jesus life.

If you have a Bible or an app on your phone, please open up to Colossians 4. We’re going to read through all of this last chapter, but we’ll do it in segments as we go.

First, Paul reminds us that the all-about-Jesus life is a life of prayer.

• PRAYER

Prayer is so important. I’m reminded of a little girl who was praying up a storm one night. She concluded, saying, “Before I finish God, please take care of mommy, take care of daddy, take care of my baby brother…and dear God, please take care of Yourself. If anything happens to You, we’re all sunk! Amen.”

Sadly, prayer has been on the decline in recent years. While a majority (55%) of Americans claim to pray at least once a day, the share of adults who seldom or never pray has increased from 18% to 23% since 2007. Even those of us who try to make prayer a priority tend to struggle. Many of us have good intentions when it comes to prayer. But we get so busy and distracted that our prayer-life falls by the wayside. For some of us prayer is a last resort, when all else fails.

But listen to what Paul says about prayer. He writes, “Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart” (Colossians 4:2 NLT). Paul urges us to be devoted to prayer. The word translated “devote” implies unrelenting persistence. It’s the opposite of “hit and miss.” The Amplified Version translates it: “Be persistent and devoted to prayer” (Colossians 4:2 AMP). Another translation says simply, “Keep praying” (GWT).

In other words, don’t bail. Don’t give up. Be consistent and committed in your prayer life. You may have dry times and days when you don’t know what to say. You may moments where it feels like your prayers aren’t reaching past the ceiling, but keep praying anyway. Jesus likewise said, “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you” (Luke 11:9 NLT).

But notice that Paul also tells us to pray “with an alert mind.” Other translations say to be “watchful.” In other words, we need to be looking for opportunities and occasions to pray—whether that means praying for our own needs, praying for someone else’s needs, praying for our church, our community, or our country. As we become more alert to the needs around us and perceptive in our prayers, Jesus will begin to transform us from prayer wimps into prayer warriors.

One more thing before we move on—notice that Paul says to pray with “a thankful heart.” Prayer is about praising God—thanking him for all He’s done and all He is. Just the word thanks lifts the spirit, doesn’t it? To say thanks is to celebrate a gift. Something. Anything. It doesn’t matter what it is. To say thanks is to cross the tracks from have-not to have-much, from grumbling to gratitude. Thanks proclaims, “I’m not disadvantaged, disabled, victimized, scandalized, forgotten, or ignored. I am blessed.” Gratitude is a dialysis of sorts. It flushes the self-pity out of our systems.