Colossians Chapter 1 Verses 3-8   

Col. 1:3 “We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints, 5 For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; 6 Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth: 7 As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ; 8 Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.”

Frequently, when Paul wrote to a church or to an individual he began in his opening remarks to utter a prayer to God on their behalf. Those prayers began with Paul giving thanks to God for those to whom he was writing as the following passages show:

    1. Rom. 1:8 “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.”
    2. 1 Cor. 1:4 “I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ;”
    3. Eph. 1:15 “Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, 16 Cease not to give  thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;”
    4. Phil. 1:3 “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,”
    5. 2 Thes. 1:3 “We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth;”
    6. 2 Tim. 1:3 “I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;”
    7. Philemon 1:4 “I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers,”

Paul has set an example for us in that prayers should generally start with thanksgiving unto God. Too often, I find myself guilty of going to God in prayer and thinking mostly what I want to request from God. We have so much to be thankful for and we should thank God for those things. All of God’s children should be thankful for the deliverance through the atoning blood of Christ from our sins. We should be thankful for the work of the Spirit upon our hearts that caused us to be born of the Spirit. We should be thankful for the hope that we have of heaven. We should be thankful for the scriptures; for the church; for the gospel; for the spiritual gifts given to each member of the church; for the leadership of the Spirit; for the providential blessings whereby God has delivered each of us in many ways.

Paul also said that he prayed always for the brothers and sisters at Colosse. This does not mean that he prayed 24 hours a day and 7 days a week for them. Rather, it means that he prayed for them on a regular basis without ceasing to pray for them.
 

Paul informs us that his prayers for the church at Colosse began when he heard some things about them: “Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints, For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel.” Most of Paul’s prayers and most of the prayers we read about in the scriptures are not uttered in generalities. A prayer in generalities would be such as saying something like: “Lord bless everybody.” Such a prayer is not specific as to whom we are interceding for and it is not specific as to what we are requesting. It is simply in generalities. Our prayers should be specific as to what we are thanking God for and specific as to what we are requesting and to whom we are making intercession.

The things which Paul heard about the brethren and sisters in Colosse were the three abiding principles laid out for us in 1 Cor. 13:13 “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”

Paul heard of their faith in Christ Jesus. How do we hear of someone’s faith? James tells us the answer: James 2:18 “Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.” Apparently, Paul heard of the works of the members of the church at Colosse and concluded that they had faith in Christ Jesus.

Paul also heard of their love to all the saints. Words are important and have significance. There is a difference between “love for all the saints” and “love to all the saints.” Love is more than a feeling, but rather is an action. We have love to the saints when we give of ourselves unselfishly for their benefit. The Lord said in John 15:13: “Greater love hath no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Sacrificially and unselfishly giving of ourselves for the benefit of another is to have love to that individual.

Paul also heard of the hope that they had that was laid up for them in heaven. Hope is not a wish or just a dream. Hope is something that is fully expected. Paul wrote in Romans 8:24 “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? 25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.” Our hope of the resurrection and the eternal inheritance in heaven is based on a promise of God which we read about in Tit. 1:2: “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;” God promised all the elect family of God eternal life before the world began. Since God cannot lie, then that promise is just as sure as God is.

This hope becomes experiential to God’s children when they hear and believe the gospel as Paul said above: “whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;” When we heard the word of truth in the gospel that salvation from sin and eternal life is by the grace of God through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ and is given to us according to the covenant of redemption that God in covenant promise made before the world began and we believed this precious truth then our hope became experiential in our hearts. Many of God’s children have not this experiential hope in their heart because they have either not heard the true gospel of grace or they have not believed the true gospel of the grace of Christ.

“Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth:” Paul speaks here of the gospel going into all the world. Most frequently people misapply the term “all the world” to mean every individual upon the planet earth. When Paul wrote the above there is no reason to believe that those people living in North or South American or those living in Australia or those living in most of Africa had heard the gospel of the grace of Christ at that time. Rather, the world in scriptural times consisted of Jews and Gentiles. The gospel not only went to the Jews, but also to the Gentiles beginning with Cornelius and his household. Thus the gospel had gone unto both some Jews and some Gentiles which is represented by the term above “all the world.”

Moreover, the gospel brought forth fruit in those who heard and believed the gospel. When a person hears and believes the gospel, it begins to bring forth the fruit of the Spirit in the life of that believer. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance.

“As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ.” One of the lessons Paul teaches us here is that there are no hierarchal positions in the Lords church. Paul did not consider his office as an apostle was greater than Epaphras office as a pastor and teacher. He referred to Epaphras as a dear fellowservant. A fellowservant indicates they were on the same level. Moreover, as gospel ministers in the church they were servants and not masters. All members of the Lord’s churches are supposed to be servants to one another.

Epaphras was a faithful minister of Christ. That is he was ministering the words of God to the people of God. Faithfulness should be the goal of all disciples of Christ. God has not called us to be successful, but rather he has called us to be faithful. It is far, far better for us to be faithful than to be successful.

“Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.” What would we like for others to say about us as members of a local church? Would we want them to say, “They were constantly bickering and fighting with one another; or they were backbiting and jealous, and unforgiving towards the faults of others?” Wouldn’t we rather that they declare of us our love in the spirit? I don’t know of any better thing that could be said of a local assembly than “they have love one to another in the Spirit.”