I know there's been a lot of movie references over this last series, but permit me one more. My favourite movie series is The Lord of the Rings. Hands down, no question, don't even have to think about it. If I could choose only one movie series to watch for the rest of my life, Lord of the Rings. It is an epic story. Life and death. Love, betrayal. Fight against evil, protection of good. Gardeners are the hero. If you haven't watched these movies, do yourself a favour. Take a long weekend and watch them. I'd recommend the extended editions, but if you don't have an extra six hours, theatrical cut will do. but I promise you, you won't regret it. Brilliant movies. And I would love to go on and on about them, but that's not what we're here to do. Talk to me about it afterwards though, if you do have a spare while. I want to zoom in on the final movie though, Lord of the Rings, Return of the King. Racker. Zooming in on the ending, or more specifically, the endings. I'd love to delve into each specific one in great detail, but again, we're not here for a movie review, but to learn from the word of God. But what we see at the end of Lord of the Rings Return of the King, and what we see here, is multiple endings. The movie came out in 2003, so if you haven't seen it now, that's on you. I'm not going to spoil it, but there are multiple endings at the end of Return of the King. Each one of them different from the other, but they build, they flow from one person to the next, one ending to the next, building the story, each in its own unique way, wrapping things up. But each one has its own meaning and context. And that's what we see at the end of Colossians here. Several little endings, each with its own meaning and message. All connected, but focused on specific situations or people. And so we're going to have three focuses this morning. Three little endings. The first one is prayer. The second one is witness. And finally, working through all the various messages that Paul sends to specific people or situations. At the end, all those little notes about the people can feel a little bit cluttered, but I'll do my best to unclutter it so that we can see what Paul is saying to them and what God is saying to us. But to begin with, I'm going to look at and focus on that section at the start about prayer. So I'll read that again. So, Fiona, head down in Colossians, where it says, Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At 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, that I may make it clear which is how I ought to speak. There's lots of things in this world that I find difficult. Swimming, for instance. I know how to do it. I'm not very good at it. Any sort of drawing or painting, artistic expression like that. Terrible. I can't get my hand to do this thing. And, like, what I have in here does not come out here. really struggle with art. I can never, yeah, can't get the hand to do the thing. I find it difficult to pronounce the Worcestershire sauce. Nailed it. Found that really difficult to spell as well. And as I found last night, sometimes the word physician can give me some issues. But to get slightly more serious, I find it really difficult to respond well to feedback, especially when it is feedback on something that I haven't done great. Just ask Michelle. She'll tell you when we're finishing up sermon prep. She'll tell you how I do with taking that sort of feedback. I find it really hard to admit when I'm wrong. And I find it really hard to pray. I like to think, I used to think that I had a really good prayer life. One where I was constantly talking to God throughout the day, just having a general sort of conversation. That was a lovely thought. But upon reflection and studying this passage, I don't think I actually do prayer that well. All too often I will get wrapped up in my day and the things going on, and I will forget about prayer completely. Paul has called the Colossians to be steadfast in prayer. They're facing a rising tide of false teaching. People promoting ideas around what is good and what is holy. They are being faced with people both inside and outside the church who are trying to have a big influence on how they live their lives. Last week, Dave took us through a passage that presented clear instructions on how to live. The first big instruction that they received in that passage was to kill sin and put it off. And how do you suppose the people in Colossae are going to do that? Or even the people of Reforming are going to be killing sin and putting it off without a keen devotion to prayer? in all the trials and difficulties that the church was facing, in learning how to relate to the outside world, learning how to relate to one another. At the top of that list, as we see in this ending here, it is to be steadfast in prayer. To be steadfast in something is to be firm in belief, determination or adherence. So to be steadfast in prayer is to keep doing it even when times are tough. To keep on praying even when you may not feel like it. To keep on praying even when the world, outsiders are telling you to stop. to keep on praying as you try and build a community of believers devoted to God and knit together in love. Whenever you think you've reached the pinnacle, you're up here and there's nowhere further to go, be steadfast in prayer. There is never going to be a point in time where prayer is not needed. Paul knows that and he wants the Colossians to know that. And so he calls them to be steadfast in watchful prayer with thanksgiving. Now to be watchful in prayer is to pay attention and listen carefully to what you are praying and to what other people are praying as well, to see if we actually agree or not. When it comes to the end of the prayer and the person saying it says Amen, that means I agree. So, when other people are praying, pay close attention to what they're saying, just to make sure that you actually agree or not, as the case may be. Because, surprise, surprise, sometimes it can happen that people get prayer very wrong. There's a prime example of me doing that in front of the whole church a few years ago. and I'm trying very hard to move past that particular slip up, but it happens. And so, you've got to be paying attention. And so, you're paying attention, you're being attentive, but it is also being attentive with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a big part of prayer. It governs how we do all of our praying in this example. So we should be watchful, but also thankful. Not just asking for things and expecting more, but being thankful about what has already been done. See, when we interact with God, we need to do it correctly. Now you might have heard the phrase, I know I've heard it a bunch, that God is not a vending machine. And that's true. But I want to change that around a little bit. God isn't Alexa. God isn't Google Home. He's not any of those sorts of things. He isn't there just listening in just in case we throw a command his way for him to carry it out immediately. He is all-knowing. He knows more than Google. But he is not controlled by us. He has all the secrets of the universe. But they're not unlocked with a voice command. We are so deeply and incredibly loved by God We are his adopted children, and he loves us with a love that we can barely comprehend. But we are also sinful. We are dependent on his daily grace. So when we pray, we do so with thanksgiving. Thankful that God even hears our prayers. Thankful that he extends his ear down to us. That is the sort of prayer that Paul is telling the Colossians to pray. He wants them steadfast, watchful and thankful. He also wants them to pray for him. Paul is putting out a prayer request, that there would be open doors and clarity of speech. Despite the fact that he's literally in prison for speaking the gospel, he wants more chances to do exactly that. What a legend. Just like the Church of Colossae, right there they're being asked to pray for their leaders. in this circumstance. So you, reforming, are being asked to pray for your leaders in all of theirs. We have our elders who need prayer We have our Bible study leaders who need prayer. And I know it might sound a little self-serving coming from the guy up the front, but pray for the leaders of reforming, please. As they try and follow the example of Jesus and share his gospel, they need every little bit of help they can get. Just like Paul and his team, they all wanted to continue preaching and teaching regardless of personal circumstance. and I pray that for reforming as well. That we will all be ready to preach the gospel, and that we will be seeking opportunities to do just that. So, are you praying for opportunities to share the gospel? I know it can be really scary, but we haven't been given a message high enough. We haven't been given this message to keep it to ourselves. We know from this letter alone that false teachers are out there promoting their rubbish. So pray for opportunities to share this message, the true and full gospel of Jesus. And I pray that when you do have a chance to share, that you'll be able to explain it easily so that the person you're talking to, the people you're talking to, can understand it. I pray that we can live it out so people can see the difference it makes to our lives. And that's Paul's next point as well. He's just discussed how we should pray, Now he's moving on to how we witness, where he writes. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders. That's our first piece of advice on how we witness. And that's all very well and good to say. Oh, just walk in wisdom. What does that actually look like? Now, you might have heard the joke, knowledge is knowing that tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad. Earlier we read from James 1 what is basically a mirror from this little section here. We saw in verse 13 to 16 what it looks like to not walk in wisdom. If you remember, it looks like bitter jealousy. It looks like selfish ambition. It looks like being boastful and false. Now all of these things, really easy to fall into, I know. But they're also terrible witnesses to the grace of God. When you profess to being a Christian, everything you do is a direct reflection on Jesus. Think of it like this, you might have heard stories of people getting fired for doing really dumb or mean things in public. There's one example that sticks in my mind from a few years ago. There was a woman boarding a plane, going on a holiday. And we know that travel can be stressful. But something happened, I don't know exactly what, but that last straw was placed on the camel's back and she lost it. Started screaming, throwing things around, but it was videoed, went up on YouTube, went viral. And then the internet went to work. They found out who this person was. They found out where they worked. Sent the video to her boss. And when she got back from her holiday, she was told to go and find a new job. So even when she wasn't doing her job, she was a representative of her company. And there were real consequences for making the company look bad. Now consider how much more important your walk with God before outsiders is. I don't profess to be the perfect person. I am far from it. I fail constantly and any advice or direction that I'm giving here comes from a place of gentleness, love and respect. But when God says to walk in wisdom, that's not a gentle suggestion, it's an imperative, it's a command. It means that when you are given a choice between doing something that will build yourself up by tearing someone down, don't take it. Jesus lowered himself to the point of death on a cross. So why are you seeking to build your own platform? I know that I have done this, but that's not what we are called to do. As we see in James, be pure, be peaceable, be gentle, reasonable and merciful, be impartial and sincere. My friends, we are not on this earth to seek our own glory. We're not on this earth to seek our own good. We are here to glorify God through our actions and through our words. We live in a world of competing ideas. Very different views on pretty much everything. Sometimes we can be drawn into conversations about these different topics. And we have many different ways to go about them. But what we have here in Colossians is some advice on how to do that. It says, let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may now may know how you ought to answer each person. So when we're faced with difficult situations or conversations, we are encouraged to stand up for what is right and what is true, but we're called to do it graciously and lovingly. If we do get into a disagreement with someone, and this passage is speaking, I think, specifically about disagreements with people outside the church, we are called to disagree with love and grace Look back at that James passage. Now he was, if you remember, he's talking about teachers and preaching the word correctly. But there's also a general message to control the words that come out of our mouths. Just like a bushfire starts with a tiny spark, so a great hurt can be caused by a careless or thoughtless word or a forceful reaction. When we witness to people, our words should be grace, gracious, just like Jesus was when he spoke. When we consider conversations with outsiders, especially regarding our faith, we see them, the person, differently. We speak to them differently. We hold them to a different standard. They aren't following Jesus, so we shouldn't expect them to live like it. But that doesn't mean that we get to drop our standards. It means that we keep our way of living, even watch ourselves even more closely. We also see there that we should make sure our conversations are seasoned with salt. That's not to say that we will be salty, like negative, sarcastic, rude. It's a sort of a modern version of that word. We should be salty in that... No, I ad-libbed and lost my flow, so I'm just going to go back to what I've written. So, our speech should be seasoned with salt. You might be thinking that your conversation has to be like a good meal seasoned with salt that our talk will be, for want of a better term, tasty. That's not the case. Of course, we want to be witty and interesting. But you might not be the most eloquent speaker. You might get nervous and stumble over your words. You might put your foot in it constantly. And I know very well what that's like. But What we're talking about here is when we season our conversations with salt, when we put the gospel in there, it's about preserving the gospel. Salt, back in the day, even nowadays, is a well-known preserving agent. It keeps food good and edible for a long time. And so when our conversations are seasoned well, means that we are sharing the Gospel message truthfully and properly. We aren't changing it to fit more closely with the times so it doesn't look out of date. We aren't moving away from it like it's gone off. Instead, we are sharing the full and true Gospel, just exactly how it's been taught in the Bible. Just like we learnt in our prayer section as well, we share it in a way that people can understand it. So our conversations should be gracious and gospel-filled. But it should also be personal. Each person gets their own consideration and their own specific answers to their questions. Every day at work, I regularly talk to somewhere between 60 and 80 different people. Now that might not seem like much, or it might seem like a whole lot, but that's just part of my job. But when I talk to everyone, generally it's in group settings, I'm a teacher, so I'm talking to a class. But the way that I talk to my Year 7s is very different to the way that I talk to my Year 11s. And not just in terms of words, but tone and style. I'm sure you all understand about talking to different people different ways. But when we get down to talking about our faith and answering questions about it, this is so important. The way you frame an answer to someone who is angry and like demanding answers, it's so different to the way that you explain it to a friend who's curious. And what this means is that you need to know what you believe and why you believe it, so that you can explain it in as many different ways as needed. I know I've said a lot about these first two sections, but when it comes down to it, our prayer life and the way we conduct ourselves towards outsiders, it's really important. The way we interact with God and spend time with him sets the tone for our life, doesn't it? The way we pray and read, listen and learn has a massive impact on the way we go about our work, our play, what we put our time towards, what we put our money towards, It controls the way we speak, the words we use. You've probably all heard the phrase, or some variation of it, that what goes in your ears comes out your mouth. The idea behind that is what you hear, what you listen to, what you immerse yourself in, will be reflected in the way you speak and interact with people. And since, at all times and in every way, we are representing Jesus, this highlights the importance of walking in wisdom. So, before we get into the last section of names and goodbyes, remember this. Be steadfast in prayer. Be wise in witness. Now, our last few sections. I'll read through it again, just so we all know where we're up to. It says, Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, that he may encourage your hearts, and with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you of everything that has taken place here. 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, and Jesus, who is called Justice. 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. 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. For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Heriopolis. Luke, the beloved physician, greets you, as does Demas. Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea and to Nympha and the church in her house. And 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. And say to Archbis, See that you fulfil the ministry that you have received in the Lord. So with this section, I'm going to try and give you a brief context of who each person is and why they're getting mentioned here, why it's important that we see their story reflected here. So, Tychicus, a guy who works with Paul, probably unknown to the church in Colossae. But most scholars agree that he is the one carrying this letter. He's also carrying the letter to the Ephesians and he's also most likely carrying the letter to Philemon. Why Philemon? Well, if you have a glance there, later on, you'll see a very familiar name pop out. Onesimus. He is a slave from Colossae. He ran away from Philemon. After doing that though, he met Paul in Rome. God worked in his heart and brought him to a saving knowledge and faith. Now, Paul is sending Philemon, no he's not, yes, I looked away from my notes and confused myself again. Focus. He's sending Onesimus back. To be a bondservant, but also a dear brother to Philemon. There is an awful lot of his story that we don't know about, but it is a wonderful testament to the grace of God that Onesimus would be so changed. Next up, we have Aristarchus, Mark and Justice. These men, or Jewish by birth, have come to follow Jesus. They have been a wonderful comfort to Paul in his imprisonment. And this again speaks to the wonderful love of God, that he would continue to save and that he would provide comfort to Paul in such a time as this. When we are going through rough times, we can ask God for many different things. We can ask for relief. We can ask for strength or wisdom. We can also ask for comfort. And I think that one of the ways God provides that to us is by sending us people. Just like he sent these three to Paul, God knows who we need, he knows why, and he knows when we need them. In those darkest of times, Paul will bring us comfort by the people around us. God will bring us comfort through those around us. Next up, we have Epaphras. And he's one of the type of guys that I was talking about a couple of weeks ago. If you don't know what I'm talking about, go onto YouTube. When you get home, check out my sermon from a couple of weeks back. He is a man who is constantly praying so that the church in Colossae will be strong in their faith. That is Epaphras's prayer that all of those people will stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. That they will know more than just the basics of the gospel, of Jesus dying and rising again, but they will see how that affects the broader areas of their life, like work and money and relationships. They will be past the milk stage and getting stuck into the nitty gritty of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. That's one of the big points of this letter of Colossians. To build and grow the maturity of the Colossian church. To warn them away from false teachers that is going on around them. And guide them towards a fully realised and mature understanding of the gospel. The last section we see here is more instructions for this letter. his mix. The instruction is for this letter to be read in another church, the one in Laodicea, a town not too far away from Colossae, fairly well connected to Colossae and also facing very similar problems. So Paul is essentially doing a very early version of live streaming One letter, two churches. Both of them needing the same message. To move away from false teaching. Kill sin. To be built up together in the unity of the body of Christ. And that's where we leave this letter, and this journey through the Church of Colossae. We have reached the final ending, just like the one at the end of Lord of the Rings. This one catches you a bit by surprise, or caught me by surprise as well. Where Paul writes, I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you. Back in those days, where there wasn't the same level of literacy, it was pretty common for someone to dictate a letter, a message they wanted to send, they would dictate it to a scribe, someone who knew how to write, they would get it all down, send it off. Now, Paul probably spoke most of this letter to Timothy, one of his friends around there. but he makes sure to write this last sentence on his own. He takes the time and effort to get these words down with his own hand, because he has a very important message to send. Remember my chains. Don't forget the price of preaching the gospel. Don't forget the price of living the Christian life. As I was writing this, I was getting a bit fired up, like gearing into turning this into a big point about the Christian life being hard, and it might land us in physical or metaphorical chains one day. But I calmed down, I read some more, and the consensus among most commentaries, among most scholars, is that this isn't a fire people up speech, but this is a prayer request. Remember me in my pain and suffering. That's what Paul is asking for. Paul is asking that they pray for his release, for those chains to be removed. But, if he is to remain in prison, pray for comfort. Paul is in the process of sending people away from himself to the churches that he really wanted to visit. And you can imagine the sort of pain that that might bring. So he's asking for prayer in this very difficult time. And this brings us to his final words, at least for this letter. The benediction, grace be with you. What a way to end a letter. It breaks your heart a little bit, almost. to think that Paul is in chains for living out his God-given mission. And then he gets you again with one of the kindest, most dearly loving phrases known to man. The grace of God be with you. The undeserved love of God? Have some of that. The love which sent the creator of the world down to earth to die on a cross? That's yours. The love which paid the penalty for our sin, so that we could be right with God, keeps out with you wherever you go. You might be able to tell, even now, when I was writing up, a little bit emotional about what Paul is going through and what he wants his last words to be. The grace of God is astounding. It is beyond comprehension. but it's ours. It is given to us freely as an extraordinary gift from God. Nothing that we could do could earn it. We can't buy it. All we can do is accept it and say thank you to our amazing God. Please pray with me now. Dear Lord, thank you for this letter. Thank you for the way you wrote it, and preserved it, and brought it to us now. I ask and pray that you would help the words of this letter to dwell in us richly. I ask that your grace would lead us home, to walk beside our Saviour. Thank you that you redeem us, and that you restore us, and that you lead us into the arms of Christ our Lord. Amen.