Sect. 9.Prayer and social converse.
I. PRAYER. (Colossians 4:2-4.)
1. Prayer must be habitual and persistent. "Continue steadfast in prayer—keeping awake therein" (Colossians 4:2); "Ask ... seek … knock" (Matthew 7:7). It is not an occasional exercise of the soul, called forth by special emergencies, but the necessity of its daily life. For that life is a fellowship with God in Christ (Colossians 3:1-3; 1 John 1:3; John 14:23), maintained on his part by the continual communication of his Spirit (Luke 11:13; Ephesians 1:13; Ephesians 2:22; Romans 8:14-17, Romans 8:23, Romans 8:26, Romans 8:27; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11; 2 Corinthians 13:14), and on ours by the constant responsive utterances of praise and prayer.
2. Prayer must be attended with thanksgiving. The one must be habitual and constant as the other. They are two elements of the same state, two parts of the same act (Ephesians 5:29; 1 Thessalonians 5:17, 1 Thessalonians 5:18). (See homiletics, sect. 1, III. 2 (3).) How unseemly it is to come to God with urgent petitions for new blessings, when we have made no due acknowledgment of those already bestowed! We dare not act thus towards any earthly benefactor. And this thoughtless ingratitude deprives us of those strong arguments and cheering encouragements which are afforded by the remembrance of past mercies. "The Lord hath been mindful of us;" then surely "he will bless us (Psalms 115:12), he "began a good work in you," and you may be "confident," therefore, that it is his will to "perfect it" (Philippians 1:6). God requires and expects that by "offering praise" we should "glorify him" (Psalms 50:23), "abundantly uttering the memory of his great goodness" (Psalms 145:7). To this end every Christian is ordained a "priest unto God," that he may "offer up a sacrifice of praise continually, the fruit of lips which make confession to his name" (1 Peter 2:9; Hebrews 13:15). And to do this is in itself "pleasant and comely" (Psalms 147:1); "Yea, a joyful and pleasant thing it is to be thankful."
3. And intercession must be joined to supplication and thanksgiving. (1 Timothy 2:1.) "Withal praying for us also," says the apostle. And in so saying he embodies the appeal which our Christian brethren everywhere make to us, especially the ministers of Christ "set for the defence of the gospel" (Philippians 1:17); and yet more especially our fathers and teachers in Christ, through whom we have received the word of our salvation, and on whose fidelity and efficiency our spiritual life so largely depends. The interests of our own Church in its special circumstances as known to us; the larger necessities of associated Churches, of the Church in our own land, in its colonies and dependencies abroad, in other Christian nations; the necessities of missionary Churches amongst the heathen, and of the sheep of Christ that are "scattered abroad" unshepherded; the great cause of the kingdom of Christ in the earth, connected as it is with everything that concerns the progress and welfare of mankind; the claims of "kings, and all that are in authority;" of those in "sorrow, trouble, need, sickness, or any other adversity;" the wants of "all sorts and conditions of men," and especially of our kinsfolk, friends, and neighbours;—all these demand our intercession and seem to say unitedly, "Withal praying for us also!" In particular, and on behalf of the gospel, the apostle desires the Colossians to pray
II. THE CHRISTIAN'S BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS MEN OF THE WORLD. (verses 5, 6.)
1. "Walk in wisdom," says the apostle, "towards those without" (verse 5). Nowhere is Christian wisdom more needed, and nowhere is it seen to greater advantage, than in dealing with worldly men. "Be ye therefore wise as serpents," says the Saviour, in sending his disciples on their mission to the world (Matthew 10:16). It is not necessary that "the sons of this world should be wiser for their own generation than the sons of light" (Luke 16:8). This wisdom, while resting on a knowledge of God and of Christian truth (Colossians 1:9; Colossians 2:2, Colossians 2:3), and furnished out of his Word (Colossians 3:16; Matthew 13:52), requires a practical knowledge of men and things. It "cometh down from above," being "asked of God" (James 1:5, James 1:17; James 3:13-18), and is "pure, peaceable, and gentle;" but it has to be practised in a human world and in the service of men as they are; and therefore it must be discerning, well-informed, and practical. The Christian should not be inferior to any man in his own walk of life in the knowledge of his business and of the duties of his secular position. Indeed, his earnestness and diligence, his calmness of temper, and fairness of judgment, and soundness of conscience, and finer sympathies, will usually give him an advantage amongst his fellows: "Godliness is profitable unto all things" (1 Timothy 4:8). How often earnest attempts to do good miscarry for want of judgment, and the Christian cause is damaged in the eyes of the world by those most anxious to promote it through their unwisdom and narrow mindedness! "I am become all things to all men," said St. Paul, "that I might by all means save some" (1 Corinthians 9:20-22). And his bearing towards men of so many different ranks and classes in the strangely mixed society in which he moved, shows that this was no vain boast.
2. To wisdom must be added promptness and alert activity. There must be a quick eye for each opportunity as it arises, and an instant, vigorous effort to take advantage of it. The right occasion makes the right action. A thing well done or well said at one time may be malapropos if timed a little sooner or later.
3. Where a wise, and wisely energetic, Christian man has the gift of apt and winning speech (verse 6), his Christian usefulness is largely multiplied. Indeed, the ordinary talk of an ordinary Christian, who cannot shine in the brilliant gifts of eloquence or wit, will at least be free from everything foolish and inept, from everything gross and ill-mannered. Though he be but a plain and unlettered man, his conversation will manifest a thoughtful, observant mind, and a pure and chastened disposition. Living a life of prayerful communion with God and with eternal things, "meditating in his Law day and night" (Psalms 1:2), he will be "taught of God;" and when he speaks, "the opening of his lips will be right words." It is astonishing how much shrewdness and kindly good sense and helpfulness, how much of the highest and homeliest moral wisdom, drawn from the everyday experience of life and the lessons of nature, is found sometimes in men who know scarcely any book but their English Bible, and have had little culture but that which is given by prayer (James 1:5). A simple Christian man of this kind will often know better than the practised scholar "how to answer" concerning his hope, and will baffle the questionings of a clever scepticism. And when fine culture has been employed upon good abilities under the teaching of the Spirit of truth, and large knowledge has been gathered from books and men, the outcome in the man's conversation ought to be something rich and valuable in a high degree.