EPAPHRAS' WRESTLING MINISTRY
Col. 4:12
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: Bonehead Bandits
1. Two teenagers robbed the Grandon City, Kansas public library. They raced up to the counter with an empty pillow case. “Put it in,” they demanded of the clerk. “Put what in?” “The money. Put it in and nobody’ll get hurt,” they barked.
2. The puzzled librarian, who had less than $1 in collected fines, put it in the bag and called the police.
3. The youths were later caught by police and promptly “booked”. [Campus Life, March, 1980, p. 27]
B. TEXT
“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” Col. 4:12. (1:7; Philemon 1:23)
C. THESIS
1. We’re preaching about Prayer tonight. We’re looking at a man named Epaphras and at the amazing ministry he had in prayer.
2. The title is “Epaphras' Wrestling Ministry."
I. A BIBLICAL HISTORY OF INTERCESSION
Intercessory prayer has been practiced by all the best of God’s saints.
A. OLD TESTAMENT INTERCESSORS
1. Abraham prayed earnestly for Lot and his family, and “Jewed” God down from a 50 to 10 righteous required not to destroy Sodom, Gen. 19:24-33.
2. Moses often interceded and saved Israel. One time God told Moses, “Let me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they.” Ex. 32:10-14. But Moses interceded and, by prayer, turned aside God’s wrath.
3. Samuel was a great intercessor. He called on God, and He “thundered” against the Philistines and routed them (1 Sam. 7:10).
4. Hezekiah spread out Sennacherib’s letter before the Lord & prayed and God put to death 185,000 men of Sennacherib’s army (2 Kgs. 19:35).
5. Elijah prayed, and it didn’t rain 3½ years. He prayed again, and God sent rain on Israel.
6. Jeremiah was called the weeping prophet because of his many crying intercessions.
7. Daniel received many visions when he prayed. Prayer saved him in the lion’s den, and his prayers helped Israel come back from captivity (Daniel 9).
8. Ezra was a passionate Priest who interceded for the remnant that returned from Babylon (Ezra 9).
B. NEW TESTAMENT INTERCESSORS
1. But, Church, the best example of intercessory prayer is the Lord Jesus. Was there anyone who interceded as He did? Even on the Cross He prayed for His enemies. Remember, church, it’s our Savior’s example which is the greatest pattern for our lives. If HE needed to pray, how much more us?
2. In the New Testament, Peter prayed on the top of houses; Stephen prayed when stones were falling, and Paul prayed on a storm-tossed ship and in deep prison cells.
C. NOT PRAYING IS UNTHINKABLE
1. Samuel said, “God forbid that I should sin against the Lord, in ceasing to pray for you” 1 Sam. 12:23.
2. IT UNITES US. One man told the Pastor he had a bone to pick with him. The pastor said “Let’s pray first”. When they rose from their knees, he said, “Now, friend, I think we are both in a good state of mind; tell me what it is that you’ve found fault with.” The man blushed, stammered, stuttered, and said, he did not think there was anything at all except in himself.
II. EPAPHRAS’ WRESTLING IN INTERCESSION
A. THE MEANING OF “WRESTLING”
1. We always think of prayer as easy, but Paul described it as “wrestling” in Colossians 4:12 with the Greek word “agonize” (agonidzomai). This word has been translated into English as “agony” which means “extreme physical or mental suffering.” Is that what you think of when you think of prayer?
2. There’s more than one kind of prayer. There’s relational prayer. There’s praise prayer. There’s thanksgiving prayer, etc. But there’s also a deeper, more powerful level of prayer that few enter into – entering into the office of intercession for the lives of people, the well-being of Christ’s church, and the destiny of nations! That’s what Paul is referring to here!
3. This same Greek word is translated in Luke 13:24 as “STRIVE to enter at the narrow gate.” Paul used it to describe an Olympic contestant, “STRIVING” to win, 1 Cor. 9:25.
4. It’s also translated as “FIGHT” in “FIGHT the good fight of faith” in 1 Tim. 6:12 and “I have fought a good FIGHT” in 2 Tim. 4:7.
5. All these descriptions, when applied to Epaphras, indicate that he was in a desperate struggle and contending as if in the Olympic games – in prayer!
6. Prayer is not just a pleasant, calming meditation. Paul described Epaphras as an alert wrestler who was trying to pin his opponent to the mat to gain the victory. Who was his opponent? Why was it a struggle?
B. WHO WAS EPAPHRAS WRESTLING WITH?
One thing is clear: Epaphras wasn’t struggling against God.
1. WE STRUGGLE WITH OUR OWN CARNAL NATURES
a. Prayer is a struggle because it goes against our worldly and lazy natures. We don’t see our need of prayer. We don’t see what’s at stake if we DON’T pray, nor what can be gained if we DO pray.
b. When Jacob “wrestled with God,” he really wrestled against his old nature. When he finally surrendered, God renamed him, from “deceiver” to “Prince of God” Gen. 32:28.
c. Even our Lord Jesus struggled in the Garden of Gethsemane to surrender His will to the Father’s, and He finally prayed, “Not My will, but Yours be done” Mk. 14:36.
2. WE STRUGGLE WITH OUR UNWORTHINESS
a. We often struggle in prayer because the devil, the accuser, reminds us of our sins. The wonderful truth of the Gospel is that when we repent, we are washed whiter than snow by the blood of Jesus & He credits us with His perfect righteousness.
b. So when we come to God in prayer, we come robed in the righteousness of Jesus His Son. Have no fear – come boldly to the throne of Grace!
3. WE STRUGGLE AGAINST DISTRACTIONS
a. How many times have you tried to pray and were assaulted by every distraction conceivable? The phone rings, you remember a pressing obligation, someone comes by, or some blasphemy occurs to your mind. And you get sidetracked.
b. If you have distracting thoughts, give them to the Lord. He understands. Then keep praying and don’t let the enemy stop you from praying!
4. WE STRUGGLE WITH DOUBTS
a. Often when we’re praying for someone – say for healing, or salvation, or for some miracle they need – we suddenly think of how impossible our prayer is of being answered. That’s when we need to remember the words of Jesus, “With God all things are possible!”
b. Remember, the father of the possessed boy who said, “I believe; but help my unbelief!” Mk. 9:24. The wonderful thing is that Jesus accepted his small faith and granted his request. God will grant your request too!
5. WE STRUGGLE WITH SELFISHNESS
a. Our normal tendency is to just pray for ourselves. It’s hard to pray for others when we have our own needs. But the Bible is filled with examples of men and women who interceded for their nation and for God’s people to accomplish His will, forgetting their own problems.
b. Think what would have happened if they HADN’T prayed:
- If Elijah hadn’t prayed 7X, it would never have rained.
- If Abraham hadn’t prayed, Lot and his family would have perished in Sodom’s fires.
- If Moses hadn’t prayed, God would have destroyed Israel.
- If the early church hadn’t prayed, Peter would have been beheaded.
c. LIKEWISE, IF WE DON’T PRAY….our loved ones/friends will be lost….our country will become morally bankrupt….our children will face the judgments of calamity, war, and poverty.
III. THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERCESSOR
A. THE INTERCESSOR HAS THE GREATEST MINISTRY
1. There is tremendous power in prayer. The power of prayer is really the power of God released through prayer.
2. Only a praying church can change the world. A praying church controls the destinies of nations! They who wield prayer, wield the greatest force in the universe (atomic power is not as powerful). “All things happen by prayer and nothing without it.”
3. R.A. Torrey said, "There have been revivals without much preaching, but there has never been a mighty revival without mighty praying." ‘Praying through’ is pressing toward God until you feel the assurance that He has heard & is going to answer your prayer.
4. We can preach, witness, sing, teach, etc., but if we don’t have the anointing on our efforts through prayer, it’s all for nothing. That’s why prayer intercession is the greatest ministry. If all church ministries were like the spokes on a wagon wheel, then prayer intercession would be the hub and it would be what made all the other ministries successful. It the crowning ministry!
B. THE PLACE OF THE INTERCESSOR
1. The intercessor is a position established by God, not men. God is looking for intercessors (Ezekiel 22:30). God wishes to intervene to save sinners, but cannot without intercessors. His hands are tied.
2. "Intercession" in Isaiah 53:12 and 59:16 means to "impinge", or come between. Impinge means to "strike, to drive in, as with a wedge." Things will go on naturally unless we drive in the wedge of the supernatural, by intercession.
3. We are in a battle for the lives and souls of this city. I need prayer partners. The spiritual battle will not be won by ingenuity, but by prayer. The greatest battles ever fought are not those on the battlefields of wars, but those fought secretly in prayer. Join me in the struggle!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: Prayer for Missionary
1. In 1949 a group of retired missionaries from China met for their regular missionary prayer meeting in Adelaide, South Australia. A great prayer burden and sense of urgency came on them as they gathered together. All felt especially burdened for Hayden Melsap, then assigned to the China Inland Mission. They dropped all preliminaries and went “straight to prayer.” They prayed until they all felt a sense of peace and relief.
2. A few years later, when Hayden Melsap was in Australia, the missionaries asked him if he recalled any unusual occasion at that time. To their amazement, he said that on day and hour, he and two other missionaries were backed against a wall in a courtyard in China, with communist guns leveled at them.
3. Just as the officer was about to issue the command to fire, the door of the courtyard opened and a higher official entered. Shocked to see what was about to happen, he shouted, “Stop!” He then stepped up, put his arm around Melsap, and led him and the others to safety.
4. Such is the power of intercessory prayer! [Touch the World Through Prayer, W. Duewel, OMS, p. 85]
B. THE CALL
1. Distribute “PRAYER INTERCESSION WORKSHEET.”
2. Let’s go to the altars and intercede for the things and people indicated on the sheet.
(“Epaphras” is a contraction of Epaphroditus, which means “devoted to Aphrodite”/Venus, the goddess of love.)
