Passage: Colossians 4:2-6
The Big Idea
When you were adopted into God’s family, you joined the family business: the kingdom of God. Once His heart lives in you, nothing else will truly satisfy you. Paul divides kingdom work into two kinds: the inside jobs of prayer, and the outside jobs of a wise, gracious witness to the world.
The Family Business
Have you ever wondered what kind of life is really the most rewarding and satisfying?
When you believed, you were adopted into God’s family (Romans 8:15). And every family has its business. Ours is called the kingdom of God. Every one of God’s kids has a part in it. It’s less a business than a lifestyle.
Colossians 3 showed us what it means to represent this kingdom in the world. We share a life with Jesus, so we don’t walk in our old life anymore. We actually put the old life to death, rendering it useless and obsolete. “I’m not that person anymore” (Colossians 3:5).
After we put the old life to death, we let the new life rule our day-to-day. Chapter 3 had a lot to say about the character of the new self. It’s the resurrection life of Jesus lived out through you. His heart living in your body.
And since His heart lives in you, every one of His kids has to learn this lesson: once we’re believers, nothing will ever really satisfy us except doing God’s will. Kingdom work. The family business. It becomes part of our DNA.
Sure, we can still chase other things. They just won’t satisfy our souls ever again.
So what is the family business? Paul divides it into two kinds of work: inside jobs and outside jobs.
The Text (Colossians 4:2-6)
Devote yourselves to prayer, staying alert in it with thanksgiving. Pray for us too, that God would open a door for the message, so we can proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which Paul is in chains, and that he would make it clear, as he should. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of every opportunity. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so you’ll know how to answer each person.
Inside Jobs: The Inner Life
- Continue earnestly in prayer. Keep at it. Be devoted to it.
- Be watchful in it. The word means to stay awake and alert.
- With thanksgiving.
- Pray for God’s workers. God’s kingdom people doing God’s family work. Pray that:
- God would open doors for His Word,
- they would speak the mystery of Christ,
- and make it clear and easy to understand.
Inside jobs are unseen. Only you and God know whether you’re clocking in and investing in His kingdom here.
Outside Jobs: The Outer Life
- Walk in wisdom toward those outside the faith.
- Redeem the time. Make the most of every opportunity.
- Speak with grace.
- Season it with salt. Make your words flavorful and life-giving.
- Know how to answer each person, pointing them to Jesus.
Outside jobs are the work of our witness to the world. And you never clock out.
The way we do these outside jobs shows the world that everything we believe about God, His love, His Son and His grace is real in our lives.
No matter where we are or what we’re doing, we can be about God’s kingdom. God’s kingdom spreads through this world through you. Why do you think Jesus said it was better for Him to go away and send the Holy Spirit to us (John 16:7)?
Did Jesus Ever Talk About This?
We’d be wise to really dig into this kingdom work, because it’s the only thing that will ever truly satisfy hearts that have His heart living in them.
Jesus told a story about a man going on a long trip (Matthew 25:14-30). He entrusted his money to three servants: five bags of silver to one, two to another, and one to the last, each according to his ability. Think of those bags as the opportunities each of us gets in this life: opportunities to work for God’s kingdom, to pray for and serve others.
The first two servants put the money to work and doubled it. When the master returned, he praised them both: “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Because they were faithful with a little, he gave them much more, and invited them to share his joy.
But the third servant dug a hole and buried his master’s money. When the master returned, he made excuses: he was afraid, because the master was a hard man. The master called him wicked and lazy. If he really believed that, he could at least have put the money in the bank. The master took the money from him and gave it to the one who had ten. And the useless servant was thrown into outer darkness.
Look at that third guy:
- He didn’t think.
- He didn’t work.
- He didn’t even try.
- He made excuses.
If we don’t spend our lives on the family business, we’ll regret it.
In fact, the story suggests that if someone has absolutely no care for His kingdom, they can’t have any real confidence that they’re His child at all. God would never throw out His own child. So that last servant pictures an unbeliever: someone who thinks they’re part of God’s family but is a hypocrite, with no faith in Jesus and no surrender to His will. His heart isn’t in them.
Don’t be scared! Look at your life. You care about people. You seek the Lord honestly. You have a heart to see His kingdom come and His will be done. That’s His heart in you.
Close with Prayer
The disciples once asked Jesus to teach them to pray, to have the inner life He had. He taught them to pray to their Father in heaven: that His name would be honored as holy, His kingdom would come and His will be done on earth as in heaven; that He would give them their daily bread, forgive their sins as they forgive others, keep them from temptation and rescue them from the evil one (Matthew 6:9-13).
That’s the family business in a single prayer. The inside job and the outside job, together.
Grace Takeaway
You’ve been brought into the family, and the family business is God’s kingdom. Clock in on the inside jobs through watchful, thankful prayer, and never clock out of the outside jobs: wise living and gracious words that point people to Jesus.