How important are words in our human experience? Is that a foolish question? Think about it. God spoke words to create the world and He used words to communicate with the beings He created in His image. Because we are made in God’s image we too can communicate with words. And God referred to His Son, Jesus, as the Word, the logos. This Word, Jesus, was sent to us to show us the person of God the Father. John says, “the Word became flesh and lived among us.” I conclude that words are important to God.
I like words! I enjoy games with words, like Scrabble and Boggle, crossword puzzles, and word scrambles. As a reader, a writer, and a pastor/teacher, I interact with words and use words all the time. Words allow me to express my thoughts in a way that others can understand. If I see they’re not understanding, I can rephrase the sentence using different words, or give more explanation of the words I’m using.
We all use words to convey thoughts, ideas, desires, intentions, and more. Think about how much is lost if you can’t communicate with words. You can act out simple desires like wanting to eat or needing to sleep, you can even communicate your emotions through facial expression, tears, posture, etc. Sign language is very helpful for people who can’t hear, but it still isn’t the same because you can’t hear tone, inflection, and the other variables in speech.
Most likely you’ve heard the saying, “communication is an art.” I think that’s a good description. Words are just one part of communication, but they’re an important part. Simple words can be like a child drawing stick figures. By a few simple lines we can determine whether the figure is a man or woman, a child, or a pet, but there’s very little detail. As one develops a larger vocabulary and begins to understand the importance of context, it’s like an artist adding details to the canvas on her easel. The painting presents a fuller, richer, more detailed picture than the stick figure drawing.
As we continue our journey through Paul’s letter to the Colossians, we’ve come to chapter four and verses 2 through 6. While this is just a short text, it is a rich one that opens to us another facet of how the preeminence of Christ affects the way we as Christ-followers should live.
If we believe, as Paul so clearly teaches in this letter to the Colossians, that Jesus is preeminent, that He is first in power, rank, position, and that He is supreme over everyone and everything, then, we will understand the necessity of telling others this important truth. To tell others this message we need words. And we need words that others can understand. So, I’ve titled our study “Getting the Word Heard.”
As we begin our study listen to Paul’s words from Colossians 4:2 to 6.
This text contains several ELEMENTS we must consider if we want to be effective in “Getting the Word Heard.”
The First Element is,
Communion
Immediately, you may think I’m talking about the Lord’s Table and the commemoration of Jesus’ sacrifice. You may think of unleavened bread and grape juice representing the body and blood of the Lord Jesus. But that’s not how I’m using this word in this context.
Instead, by using the word communion, I’m referring to having fellowship with God in prayer. We know God desires communion with us. He desired it so much that He went looking for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden after they had sinned. He came looking for them “in the cool of the day.” That suggests this was a time when they previously enjoyed fellowship together.
Paul instructs the Colossian Believers to continue in prayer, communing with God. Some Bible translations add the word steadfastly or earnestly because that idea is contained in the original wording. So, this isn’t just a brief prayer before a meal or a...
