people

Colossians 4:7-18

7Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. 8I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts, 9and with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you of everything that has taken place here.

 10 Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, and Mark the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you have received instructions— if he comes to you, welcome him), 11and Jesus who is called Justus. These are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me. 12 Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. 13For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis. 14 Luke the beloved physician greets you, as does Demas. 15Give my greetings to the brother at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house. 16And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea. 17And say to Archippus, "See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord."

 18I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.

The letter to the Colossians ends with 11 verses of personal greetings and messages. These remind us that this isn’t some sort of theological document, it’s a letter between real people. The church isn’t some faceless organisation, it’s made up of real people with real relationships, it can get a bit messy and relationships might need restoring or people might need correcting or encouraging – just like it did in the early churches that Paul and others write to. The church is not a place we go to or an activity that we do. We are the church.

outsiders

Colossians 4:5-6

5 Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. 6Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

You may be the only representative of Jesus that somebody ever comes into contact with. Our relationships with non-Christians are a witness of God’s love, even if we’ve never mentioned the word Jesus to them. That’s why we need to be wise in those relationships, not that we’re trying to engineer everything around to talking about God ("oh, you’ve dyed your hair red? Did you know red is the colour of Jesus blood which was shed for your sins!"), but that we recognise that we are representing Him. That’s why our speech needs to be "gracious and seasoned with salt". We need to think before we speak. If we live in the counter cultural way described earlier in the book, then the things that we say about people will be a witness in itself. 

How do we answer difficult questions? Whether we know the answer or not, our speech should be gracious. We aren’t supposed to treat non-Christians as outsiders or projects but as friends. The word "outsiders" in verse 5 literally means “those without”. They are without Jesus, the fundamental things that makes our lives worthwhile. We need to pray and act in any way we can to show them Jesus' love.

opportunities

 Colossians 4:2-4

2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. 3At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— 4that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.

Paul was not some super professional Christian going round starting churches and dishing out advice, he knew he needed support and prayer for His ministry. He asks them to give him and his companions opportunities for spreading the gospel and that they would take those opportunities, speaking clearly. Do we pray for our leaders? Do we pray for people that seem to be successful in whatever they’re doing? Do we pray for each other and other churches, other Christians, that we would have opportunities for spreading the name of Jesus? Do we ever say we’ve got no prayer requests, that everything is going fine? We all need pray that God would give us opportunities to show and talk about God’s love and that He would help us take them! It’s a dangerous prayer, but if we don’t want to pray it, maybe we don't fully understand the depth of what God has done for us!

jesus at work

Colossians 3:22-4:1

22Slaves, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. 25For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.
 1Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.

Jesus is not peripheral to our life at work, He is or should be central to it. He should influence our attitude towards our employers and/or employees and to the job itself. Slaves are told to obey everything they are told to do and work hard, irrespective of the quality of character of their boss. This is because they are ultimately working for Jesus and we should aim to work hard, to the best of our ability for Him. People-pleasers perform “eye-service”, they are seen to do the right thing, or make everybody aware of what they have done. Jesus sees everything we do, we don’t need to brag about things we have done and we can’t cover up short cuts that we might have taken. We aren’t doing it to receive compliments and the hard work may well go unnoticed by your boss, but that doesn’t matter because we are serving Jesus.

If you are in charge of other people you need to lead like Jesus, not slacking off yourself or treating your employees badly, modelling your leadership on Jesus. Again, Jesus is our role models for all our attitudes at work with the employer or employee. Having this attitude at work is highly counter-cultural and wont happen by accident, we need to take deliberate steps to follow Him in the workplace.

family life

Colossians 3:18-21

18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. 20Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. 21Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.

People tend to shy away from any talk of submission or the husband being the leader, but all of that comes from a misunderstanding of what leadership is. Jesus is our ultimate example of leadership and He said that it is not "lording it over people" but seeking to serve rather than be served (Matthew 20:25-28). The husband being the head of the family, doesn't mean telling the wife what to do, putting her down or keeping her in her place. It’s the exact opposite – supporting her, praying for and with her, doing everything possible to help her gifts flourish and to help her get closer to Jesus.

A wife submitting to her husband does not mean that she needs to have his dinner on the table every night, do all the washing up and not say anything if he's spending all his time at the pub, watching football or playing on computer games. It means that she does everything she can to support him, which includes challenging him if necessary. The husband being the head does not mean that he is always right and the wife is always wrong. It doesn’t mean that they are adversaries fighting their own corner and putting the other one down. They are both on the same team!

Similarly with parents and children, the children should respectfully obey their parents as they would to Jesus. Parents should aim to lead the children out of love, with the aim of  bringing the child closer to Jesus.  Loving your spouse and children well is far more important than any work, even in the church. Jesus is our ultimate role model for all relationships and His way of putting the needs of others first is massively counter-cultural.

everything

Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Paul ends chapter 3 in the same way it started, by reminding the people who recieved this letter that everything is about Jesus. We have a tendancy to compartmentalise our lives when it comes to Jesus. A section for Jesus and a section for us. A couple of hours on a sunday and maybe a midweek evening where we're on our best behaviour and the rest doesn't matter so much. We're kidding ourselves if we think that's what life is like as a Christian. It’s all or nothing. Either Jesus is Lord or He isn't.  I can’t be patient at home but angry at work and think it doesn’t matter. I can't talk one way with my church friends and gossip with my non-christian firends and think that pleases God. Our lives are not divided. Jesus is in all of it, at home, at work, at church, at the pub, with family, with friends, with enemies. Whatever we do or say is in the name of Jesus. Any seemingly meaningless task needs to be done as if we are doing it for Jesus, because we are. Every seemingly meaningless conversation needs to be had as if Jesus is right there with you, because He is.