27 Colossians: The Mystery of Christ - Eat, Sleep, Pray

Date: November 9, 2025 Lord’s Day: 45 Series: Colossians the Mystery of Christ Title: Eat, Sleep, Pray Text: Colossians 4:2-4; Genesis 32:22-31   Westminster Confession of Faith 21:3 Prayer with thanksgiving, being a special part of religious worship, is required of all people by God. That it may be accepted, it is to be made in the name of the Son, by the help of his Spirit, and according to his will, with understanding, reverence, humility, fervency, faith, love, and perseverance, and if vocal, in a known tongue.   This is the Reading of God’s Word Colossians 4:2-4  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.   Genesis 32:22-31 22 The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. 24 And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. 30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” 31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. Praise be to God Prayer: We come as a people into this moment asking that you guide my words and open our hearts to receive your word.  We are a people that believe in prayer but at the same time I ask you lead us into a deeper relationship with you.  Allow this text to speak to us. All this text to mold us.  It is in Christ name we pray, Amen     Introduction: We come to our passage in Genesis and become reacquainted with our friend Jacob.  He has a background story that leads up to our text that because of time I will only highlight. Jacob is a twin. His name means trickster, so this is not the kind of guy from which you want to buy a car.  Can you imagine?  You come to the car lot and out comes the man in the suit with a tie and says, “Hi there, my name is trickster, how can we get you in a nice vehicle today?”  You would reply, “We are at a car lot?  Oh my, how did we get here?  Thought this was the parking lot for the concert.” And then you would make your way out of there. Jacob’s father was Isaac was married to Rebecca.  When she was pregnant with Jacob and his twin brother Esau, it said they were jostling around inside her.  As she was carrying them around, they were wrestling in her womb, and it was uncomfortable.  It was so distressing that she prayed about this.  “What is going on inside of me?” The Lord replies, “You have two nations inside of you. . . the older will serve the younger.”  Interesting response.  Very mysterious, right? In time, she has the children and Esau, who is described as red and hairy (not a good combination is it?) comes out first.  But coming in at a close second place is Jacob who is holding on to the heel of his brother Esau. Earlier, I did say his name means trickster.  His name actually means “grabs the heel” but in Hebrew that is not a positive thing.  It means supplanter, which is also, not a word we use in English right?  It means to gain and advantage usually by trickery or deceit.  As the boys grow, Esau becomes a daddy’s boy.  He is red, hairy, masculine and ends up being a good hunter.  Trickster is a momma’s boy. In short time Jacob lived up to his name and tricked Esau out of being the first born.  Esau traded his birthright for a bowl of soup.  He was hungry.  But that trade was not completely final unless the father blessed it.  This was the next trick. A blind Isaac was near death he asked for one last meal and sent Esau out to get game.  After the meal was eaten, Isaac would bless Esau.  Rebecca overheard and quickly devised a plan.  She would cook a meal, Jacob would get in disguise, and to get the blessing. They put the plan into play, and you really have to think again about how hairy Esau was.  Jacob put on animal fur.  That is hairy man.  That is really hairy. He brought the meal to Isaac while in disguise and he was like, wow, already back? You got the game and cooked it, and you are already back?  The trick is on shaky ground.  Isaac thought something was up because the voice sounded like Jacob.  Come here and let me feel you.  He reaches out and sure enough, you smell and feel like the wild man Esau. He ate and then blessed Jacob, thinking it was Esau.  Knowing the outrage that this would cause, Rebecca tells Jacob to pack his bags and get out of Dodge: and this is what he does. Then Esau reappears and learns what has happened. He is broken up.  He is outraged. In tears. He begs for this to be fixed.  It can’t be fixed.  Jacob has left.  Esau leaves.  It is 20 years later as we come to our text.   Jacob is about to meet Esau.  The trickster devises another plan.  It is a pretty good plan and there is nothing ethically or morally wrong with this plan. He sits back and sends three waves of gifts.  Each wave as it reaches Esau are to say, “Here is a gift to you from Jacob.” I looked up the total for these gifts.  In US dollars at the very lowest end would be $31K.  Total, the amount of labor these donkeys and sheep would provide over their lifetime would equal almost $400k. The trickster is trying to soften him up.  He prays to God and says, “When I left home I had only a staff and what was on my back. Now I have all this.  You told me to go back to the land of my fathers, and that is what I am doing.  Please save me from my brother Esau.” This is what leads up to our passage that we read earlier.  That is a heavy prayer.  I am going out on a limb of faith here.  This is similar to Peter on the water, it really is.  Peter asks Jesus to command him to come to him and Jesus does and Peter steps out of the boat.  The wind gets to him.  The wind catches his attention, and faith begins to fail.  I get that.  I see that and I would most likely have never gotten out of the boat. LIKEWISE: For perspective, Jacob here is going out on a limb of faith.  God gives him the exact same promise that he gave to Abraham.  But also sends him back to the land of his fathers and must go through Esau to get there. Ok Lord, I will go back. You said I would prosper.  I have been avoiding this for 20 years.  I believe what you said.  I believe your promise.  I do need you to protect me from Esau. He sends the three delegations with the gifts to Esau.  He remains back.  This is where we are with the text that we just read.  He sends everyone, even his family, ahead across a River named Jabbok.  He is alone. Then it says, a man – out of nowhere, just in the middle of the thought there appears a man.  Verse 24 has two short sentences in our English: “And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.”  What a peculiar thing. Jacob was alone. A man wrestled with him all night. I am floored by this. 1. The sheer strength that it would take to do this.  This is not easy.  I have spoken before about wrestling, and it is an exhausting experience.  Those who are in the UFC, boxing, wrestling, get short breaks.  There are rounds.  They can catch their breath momentarily. With wrestling it is three periods that are 2 minutes long.  That is it.  Two minutes and if you are not in shape that is the longest 2 minutes of your life.  It might as well be 2 weeks. Jacob did this all night long.  He holds on to this, mysterious man, until daybreak.  He wants to know his name.  I will not let you go until you bless me! And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”28 The man said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” xx And there he blessed him. 30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.”    This is a Christophany.  What is a Christophany?  It is a term used to describe the incarnate appearance of Christ in the Old Testament.  This is an extremely important moment.  After wrestling all night with Jacob, this man just touched his hip – destroyed.  Jacob knew this was supernatural.  This is God.  I have seen the face of God. Jacob held on to this man until he blessed him.  I will not let you go until you bless me.  He wrestled with him until he got the blessing. This is a different Jacob.  He was used to tricking.  He had tricked Esau with a bowl of soup.  He had tricked his father with a furry suit.  He had tricked Laban, his cousin.  His days of trickery were over.  He was now – talking to God.  He was up all-night wrestling with God seeking a blessing. This story of Jacob wrestling at the Jabbok River has long captivated the Puritans because for them, this event symbolizes not just a physical combat but a profound spiritual discipline: fervent, persistent prayer where one grapples with God until He blesses the soul.  The puritans saw this as a model for believers facing trials, urging us to approach the throne of grace with tears, faith and an unyielding resolve.  “We are told by the prophet Hosea (12:4) how Jacob wrestled: he wept and made supplication; prayers and tears were his weapons.  It was a spiritual wrestling.” Matthew Henry Genesis 32:24-25  XX “Jacob kept his ground; though the struggle continued long, the angel prevailed not against him, this discouragement did not shake his faith, nor silence his prayer.” Thomas Watson wrote: “Jacob feared exceedingly (Genesis 32:7). His spirits were ready to faith, note that he goes to the promise. Lord, you have said you would do me good (Genesis 32:12). This promise was his food.  He got so much strength from this promise that he was able to wrestle with the Lord all night in prayer and would not let Him go till He had blessed him.”  All Things for Good Do you pray like this?  Have you prayed like Jacob?  Have you prayed all night long over a matter that distresses you? We come to our text in Colossians 4 and Paul is seeking the “steadfast prayer” of the Colossian church. ILLUSTRATION: Maybe your prayer has been like some of mine in the past.  I have a matter or maybe several matters on my heart and I go over here, and I begin praying (act out prayer – then distractions) The thought for some to pray all night is intimidating. Isn’t God going to get tired of hearing from me?  I can’t even make it 5 minutes.  Dear family, I am not implying that every prayer that we have must be this way. We are in the Lord’s army . . . even those who are in the military get a break.  They are not always on high alert.  I go to an extreme on purpose.  The rhetorical question for you to ponder, have you ever had a matter that you prayed all night long? For some you the answer is yes.  For most, the answer is I can’t make it past ten minutes. This is alarming.  Because you will spend all night worrying about the matter and failing to bring it to the Lord.  A matter will ROB you from sleep.  This matter will rob you of hours of sleep.  And you will dwell on it and maul it over in your head.  You will play out this scenario and that scenario and you will not give it 15 minutes of prayer. My child has . . . My job. . . My spouse . . . The doctor said . . . ILLUSTRATION: For many, not for everyone, but for many and maybe even most in the Christian faith, their view of prayer is like this wheel.  Now, when I say this, no one would come right out and say, this is how I view prayer.  What I am implying here is that this is our secret attitude of prayer.  We go to the Lord in prayer, and we do not follow through.  We do not “CONTINUE” in prayer.  We are not “STEADFAST” in prayer. We are not “EARNEST” in prayer.  We are not “DEVOTED” in prayer. The answer, or lack thereof, gets lost and we go on. TEXTUAL FOCUS What I want to do here is to look at Colossians 4:2, which is the beginning of our passage.  I want to break it down and then make some applications.  We are looking at one sentence.  Let’s look at that, see what it meant to the people there and then find some application for us today. Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. (Col 4:2) This is the idea. NASB, NIV, NLT, Legacy Standard: Devote ESV, NKJV: Continue AMP: Persistent and Devoted This is an imperative. It is plural that the church and congregation must do this. They are to stay alert. Be watchful. Look around. Keep head on swivel.  Seeking opportunities and occasions to pray. The word is in present, which also means it is not only something to be done right now but ongoing.  It is never to stop.  This is your life. Why does this apostle have them pray?  Does Paul not have an “in” with God?  Afterall, God stopped Paul on the way to Damascus with a bright light and converted him to the very thing he was persecuting.  Talking about having an “in” with God.  You imagine giving your testimony in the presence of Paul?  Well, this couple named Phil and Cora shared the gospel with me and after a few weeks of study I was just converted. I wanted to repent and live a new life.  How about you?  Who did your Bible study? (Paul would say) Well, I was on my way to kill some Christians and God, well, there was this bright light.  I was converted by God.  He stopped me, took away my sight.  But amazingly, I was more able to see when I was blind than at any time when I actually had my sight. This is Paul.  Supernaturally converted.  Yet he is asking these people to pray for him.  PAUL WAS NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO PRAYED – JESUS ALSO PRAYED.  THE SON OF GOD DEFINITELY WAS IN WITH GOD. HE PRAYED Application Let us look at the prayer life of Jesus. HE HAD AN IN WITH GOD   Mark 1:35 “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.”   WE need to be about prayer If Christ needed to pray, how much more does Paul (and us) need to be about prayer. Notice here that Jesus was alone.  He went away.  He went to a place.  Got away from people that he loved and prayed.  The point here is not that we need to go and pray all night this week.  Jesus did pray all night (Luke 6:12).  But every prayer was not all night.  My encouragement is that we need to be willing, that it if it needed, there be no hesitation for us to pray alone (like Jesus and Jacob) and all night (like Jesus and Jacob).  The specific thing here is Jesus was alone. In your prayer life, you need to do this.  Every single day of the rest of your life is pray.  Spouses, leave room for your spouse to pray.  Find a place where you can be alone.  Guard that time. Keep the cell phone away.  Keep the distractions away.  Dad, give mom time away from the kids to pray.  This is more important than sleeping.  This is more important than eating.  Remember that Paul is in prison as he is writing this. Do you know what he did not ask them to pray for?  Get us out of here. God’s will be done! Have you ever prayed that God keep you in a tough situation that you are in?  Paul did not say, pray that I would get out of prison here.  We have had such a heavy prayer list since my arrival.  Buddy and Joanna Adams and their family.  There is A LOT going on there.  Phil and Cora with Kash and Kason. This past week, Phil Morrow sent me a photo of a before and after with baby Kason.  He needed surgery on his esophagus.  We have been praying for him and there is absolutely nothing wrong with praying that whoever needs healing, please heal them.  There is nothing wrong with that prayer. However, often it is the first and only thing we pray for.  In our text Paul is in prison.  Let’s pray for his release.  And then there is no other prayer than that.  Paul is in prison because God sovereignly placed him there.  What if there was a job for Paul to do while in there. You know what Paul asked for?  Open a door for me here to share the gospel.  Let that sink in.  He could have prayed for an open door of the jail cell. Do not misunderstand my point.  If you are ill and I hear word of it, I am going to pray that you be healed.  I want you to recover.  But that will not be my only prayer. That just like Jesus prayed in the Garden, “Lord if there is any other way, please let this cup pass from me . . . . but not my will Lord.  Not my will but Yours be done.” There were two prayers there.  One where an expressed personal desire is stated in two levels.  One, I would like this suffering to end.  But if this is your will – let’s go.  Can you pray like that? The power of prayer is that it changes you. It changed Jacob. Didn’t it change him? Absolutely it changed him.  How?  For the first time he did not try to trick to get a result.  His name was changed after this from Trickster to Israel.  Isn’t that amazing. This may be the most powerful part of prayer –The fact that prayer changes us.  We can get to a place where we are like, I trust you Lord – This is what I want, but I trust you.  Wherever you go, I will follow.   Prayer: One of the most difficult things for us to relinquish is control.  We want to be in the driver’s seat.  We want control – but yet at the same time, we recognize that you are truly the only sovereign. That you will work all things perfectly. I am asking that you lead us to conversate with you daily.  Speak to us through your word, and hear us as we speak to you in prayer. Change us – mold us just as you did Paul and Jacob. Mold us more and more into the image of your Son Jesus and it is in His name we pray, Amen.