A Man with a Heart for God’s People and God’s Work

Epaphras: A Servant of God

1. He was “of you.” He was FROM Colossae. That was his home church.

2. He was the one used of the Lord to found the church in Colossae. (1:7)

a. The Colossians “learned” the gospel from Epaphras. (cf. vs. 6) (learned = discipled)

b. Some believe that he also founded the other churches in that region: Laodicea and Heiropolis. (4:13) (They were all only about 10 miles or so apart—tri-city region)

3. A SERVANT of Christ.

a. Servant: Strong’s – doulos: a servant; slave;

b. Zodhiates: one who is in a permanent relation of servitude to another, his will being altogether consumed in the will of the other.

c. Greek-English Lexicon: one who is a slave in the sense of becoming the property of an owner.

d. It was a bond slave—but used here of voluntary slavery to Christ in His service. It speaks of loyalty and dedication to Christ as LORD.

e. This is what EVERY Christian ought to be: a bond slave of Christ.

f. In 1:7 he is also called a faithful minister (diakonos).

4. In Col. 1:7 Paul refers to him as a dear “fellowservant.”

a. Fellowservant: sundoulos

b. Paul sees himself and Epaphras as fellow servants of Jesus Christ… both bond slaves of the Lord… both enrolled in His service.

c. Not only are all believers bond slaves of Christ, we are to consider ourselves FELLOW bond slaves.
• We are serving the Lord TOGETHER… not working against each other.
• There is ONE Master, and we are all to be carrying out His will and doing His service.

d. And in this verse he speaks of him as a “dear” fellowservant.
• Dear = ἀγαπητός—He was a beloved one—both of the Lord and of the people of God.

Epaphras: A Prayer Warrior

A. HOW He Prayed

1. Continually

a. This was his lifestyle.

b. He didn’t pray only when he was with other believers who were praying. He prayed on his own—always.

c. Col. 4:2 – he obeyed this command… willingly… naturally.

2. Fervently – ἀγωνιζόμενος

a. This is one Greek word translated “labored fervently.”

b. To contend for a prize, struggle.

c. To strive to do something with great intensity and effort.

d. I Cor. 9:25 – And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.
• It was a term used to describe the effort that went into athletic competitions.
• This is the kind of effort and enthusiasm that ought to be exerted in our prayer life!
• Think of the “fervency” that was in the air when the Patriots won the Super Bowl…
• Imagine if believers were as fervent in prayer?
• It is the fervent prayer that is effectual!

e. I Tim. 6:12 – Fight the good fight of faith. (2 times – verb and noun). This kind of fervency is to be exerted in our daily struggle for the faith… and to remain faithful to the faith.

f. Col. 1:29 – Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.
• Notice that in the believer who is yielded to Christ, and IN and THROUGH whom God is working… there is still an internal struggle occurring… agonizomai!
• But the struggle is not of the believer struggling to accomplish the work… but rather of the believer struggling to TRUST God to work through him…
• It is a fight of the FAITH… for the flesh loves to try to take the reigns and do it all by ourselves… and leave God out. Our tendency is to trust self.
• It is a battle to remain resting and trusting in God alone to work through us—and that battle exists in our prayer lives as well…
• It is a battle to BELIEVE that God hears and responds to our prayers…
• It is an internal battle of the emotions, pouring our hearts out to God to work to accomplish His will…

g. Luke 22:44 – the very best illustration of this concept as relating to prayer is found in the Lord’s prayer in Gethsemane.
• “He being in agony (noun form)… prayed earnestly.” (lit = intensely).
• He sweat as it were, great drops of blood.
• This prayer was not a light little ditty… but it came from deep within His heart and soul…

h. Epaphras “agonized” in prayer…

i. Present participle –constantly: ongoing wrestling in prayer

3. Specifically (for you)

a. Epaphras was one OF them. He was from that city.

b. Of course, he would know many of those saints by name.

c. He would be familiar with the circumstances of their lives.

d. He would know some of the conflicts and battles they faced.

e. He didn’t just pray for believers everywhere around the world in a broad, vague, fuzzy, generic sense.

f. He prayed especially for those he KNEW in his home town… and those he loved.

g. He prayed specifically for them.

h. That’s why we mention specific prayer requests from a few of the missionaries that we know. We print up specific prayer lists… with names of real people… and the struggles they are facing.

i. USE those prayer lists and pray specifically!

j. How can you praise God for answered prayer if your prayer is “God bless the missionaries?”

4. For Spiritual Things

a. He prayed that the believers would stand fast in the will of God.

b. NOT: for a new job; better pay; sore backs and knees; new tent; increase in the flock.

c. Our prayer requests often focus on the earthly. His prayer request was for the heavenly—spiritual things.

d. When we seek those things which are above as we are commanded, we will be praying for things above too!

e. It certainly is not wrong to pray for earthly things (like food; shelter; health, and other earthly needs).

f. But with this caveat:
• That should not be the bulk of our prayers… we should not concentrate on those things.
• And when we DO pray for earthly things, it should be for a spiritual purpose: that God may be glorified in some way through the provision or answer.
» Ex: don’t just pray for good health—but pray for God to restore our bodies that we might be strong enough to serve Him…
» Ex: don’t just pray for a job—but for a job that you might be a witness for Christ in the exact place He would have for you!

Epaphras: A Man with a Heart for the People of God

1. Standing perfect and complete in all the will of God!

a. What an amazing prayer request!

b. He wanted the people of God to know the will of God and to walk in it!

c. He wanted the spiritual BEST for God’s people in Colossae.

2. He wanted God’s people to STAND. STABILITY!

a. Stand: to stand fast; made to stand; established; set in place.

b. Passive = made to stand. God does this. It is HE who holds us up and enables us to stand. Epaphras knew that… and prayed for it.

c. He wasn’t praying for the believers stand in their own strength… but that they would be MADE to stand.

d. Oh how we need to be praying for one another that we too might be made to STAND… especially in this evil day.

e. Eph. 6:12-14 – stand is a command… but it can only be done when we are protected by Gods’ armor… and we are are thus strong in the Lord and in the power of HIS might… not ours. (vs. 10)

f. We live in soft days… wherein Christians in our land think it not even necessary to take a stand on anything… The tendency is to rather than taking a stand, to lie down… in complacency.

g. We seem to have such a spineless, wishy-washy brand of Christianity today. We NEED godly saints to take their STAND… Let’s pray for that.

h. Epaphras prayed for the believers in Colossae that God would make them to STAND… for they were under attack by an early form of Gnosticism…

i. What a great prayer for us to pray for one another! That we be not babes, tossed to and fro…

3. He wanted God’s people to stand in ALL the will of God… not just part of it.

a. All false teachers have “some” of the will of God intertwined in their false systems.

b. But having a “little” bit of the will and knowledge of God can be exceedingly dangerous… and deceptive.

c. ALL is an important term used in Colossians. It appears over 30 times.
• Col. 1:16-17 – for by Him were ALL things created and ALL things consist.
• Col. 1:18 – that in ALL things Christ should have the preeminence. Religious men might give Him preeminence in a few things…
• 2:9 – in Him dwells ALL the fullness of the Godhead. Some cults say that Christ had “some” trace of divinity… a little spark of divinity.
• 2:10 – He is the head of ALL principalities and powers… not just a few.
• ALL is an important word theologically. Less than ALL can be disastrous and heretical. (Whether it relates to the Person of Christ, His finished work, or the knowledge of ALL of His will).

d. Epaphras prayed that the saints in Colossae would stand in ALL the will of God.
• Literally = in everything willed by God.
• Most of God’s will is revealed in His Word. ALL: Every jot and tittle in God’s Word is important.
• God’s expect obedience and compliance in ALL of it.
• False teachers are learned in promoting MUCH of God’s will. They can be moral… good citizens… good family people… but there are always SOME areas where they go astray from God’s will.
• The prayer was for believers to be standing in ALL the will of God… that every portion of God’s will for their lives would be realized. (God’s will for your witness at work; your family; your reaction to trials; your service in the local church; fruit bearing; learning His Word; knowing Christ and growing in Him…)
• There is a LOT to God’s will… and Epaphras wanted the believers in Colossae to be standing in EVERY BIT of it… nothing lacking.
• He prayed that they would stand fast in EVERYTHING willed by God for their lives.
• Paul’s prayers for the people were that they would be FILLED with the knowledge of His will… (1:9)
• This kind of praying puts God and His will at the center of everything.

4. Perfect: MATURITY!

a. Epaphras wanted the Colossians to stand PERFECT.

b. This does not mean he was expecting them to be sinlessly perfect.

c. Τέλειος – of full age; mature; brought to its end; finished.
• Perfect in the sense of not lacking any moral quality; mature in behavior.
• Of persons, meaning full–grown in mind and understanding (1 Cor. 14:20);
• Heb. 5:14 – But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age… as opposed to babes… immature ones.

d. The prayer of Epaphras was for the saints at Colossae to stand before God as full grown, spiritually mature adults… with a mature understanding of His will and His ways.

e. Eph. 4:13-14 – this was the heart desire of Paul for the Ephesians as well. (Notice the context of spiritual attack by error in both places.)

5. Complete: ASSURANCE!

a. Defined: (textual variation) (long Greek Word with 16 letters, and in some manuscripts one word has three extra letters giving it addition meaning – from filled to the full to fully persuaded.)
• Wuest: “to bear or bring to the full, to carry through to the end, to make full, to persuade, fully convince.”
• Lightfoot translates, “fully persuaded.”
• Vincent translates it, “fully assured.”

b. Cf. Rom. 14:5 – Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.

c. Cf. Rom. 4:21 – And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

d. The prayer was not for believers to objectively possess the will of God (as raw data)… but rather than we would be subjectively PERSUADED by the will of God.

e. This implies a pure conscience—persuaded that we are standing in God’s will… persuaded from the Holy Spirit using the Scripture so that we know God’s will… persuaded that we are doing God’s will… persuaded that we are living God’s will… THAT brings a pure conscience. Anything less will cause the conscience to convict us…

f. It implies MORE than just possessing facts; it implies full persuasion… confidence… assurance… faith… trust…

g. This too is an expression of spiritual maturity… assurance! (Babes are tossed to and fro… they are uncertain; vacillate.)

h. Uncertainty lays a person open for enticement into error. Maturity brings a settled assurance. It is a knowledge of God’s will as recorded in His Word that brings that assurance to the heart.

i. This was also Paul’s prayer for the Colossians in 2:2 – the “full assurance of understanding.” (same term)

j. Perfect, passive, participle-
• The perfect tense strengthens this thought.
• The prayer is that we might come to the place of full assurance of God’s will and STAND there—remain settled in it!
• The passive indicates that it is the Lord who brings a believer to that place in their life of faith and it is the Lord who establishes us in that kind assurance!
• So if it is the Lord’s work in us—then PRAY for it!
• Pray for a full understanding of the will of God for your life… and that you will be SETTLED, established, and RESTING in it! (Not wandering, drifting, vacillating, but assured and stable!)

6. Epaphras had a heart for God’s people.

a. He knew how to pray for them and what to pray for.

b. He knew what they really needed… to know God’s will… to stand fast in it… and assured by it… and resting in it!

c. What a great way to pray for one another today too!

Epaphras: A Man Zealous for the Work of God

1. Zealous:

a. There are two words that appear here in the Greek in various texts. Some texts have one; some have both terms.

b. ζῆλος – to be hot, fervent; fervour of spirit.
• This is the term used in John 2:17 – “the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.”

c. πόνος – It is labor which demands the whole strength of man; pain, hard work to the point of tormenting agony

2. Paul speaks here of the hard work and/or zeal that Epaphras poured into those folks as he ministered in their midst.

a. He was zealous for the house of God in Colossae!

b. He labored with the labor which demands the whole strength of man.

c. Paul saw in Epaphras a man for whom the work of the Lord was his life… he poured his heart and soul into it.

d. He was zealous that the local churches in his home region flourished and bore fruit—real fruit of the Spirit.

e. He was zealous—jealous—for the purity of the work of God in that region of the world.
• I don’t really think I could convey to someone who is not in the ministry of the zeal Paul saw in the heart of Epaphras toward the work of God in Colossae…
• I think only a pastor could really understand what he means.

f. Paul was just as zealous for the churches he had helped establish.
• II Cor. 11:2-3 – Paul was “jealous” (same word as zealous in Col. 4:13) for the church at Corinth.
• He had a holy zeal for their purity –
• The closest way to describe this zeal is the holy jealousy a father would have for his daughter’s purity… that he may present her as a chaste virgin to her husband.
• Paul had that kind of holy zeal for the believers in Corinth… that he might present them prepared to stand before the Bema seat… and receive a well done!
• Read I & II Cor. Paul agonized over the spiritual condition of the believers there. He was zealous and jealous for them… that they would walk with God and not be destroyed by the adversary.
• He agonized over the spiritual decline he saw in some… in their lax attitude towards spiritual things… their complacency… their carnality and worldliness.
• Paul had a pastor’s heart.
• Epaphras had the same kind of zeal toward the church that he evidently had established in Colossae… as did Paul (Col. 2:4). They were jealous over the purity of that assembly of believers.
• Any pastor would have that kind of heart toward his ministry… toward the flock of God over which God has made him overseer.
• He was zealous—jealous for it… and wanted only that which would be BEST for them in light of eternity.

3. His zeal extended beyond Colossae to neighboring cities where churches had been established.

a. He was also zealous for the churches established in Laodicea and Hierapolis too.

b. He had labored much in that region…
• II Cor. 12:15 – Like Paul he spent and was spent on the work of God there.
• Phil. 2:17 – Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.
• The more you PUT INTO the work of God… into a local church… the more zealous you will be for that work… the more jealously you will want to protect it.

c. Folks that are totally involved in the work of God and are zealous for it… experience certain things other believers who are only casually involved in the work never experience.
• The heart wrenching agony when things go wrong… the weeping over believers who like Demas turn away… the broken heart associated with young ones we have watched grow up choose not to walk with God… (Other folks might say in passing, what a pity!)
• The heavenly joy and peace that passes understanding through God’s hand of blessing… the real thrill of answered prayer… the delight in seeing people get saved… and believers returning to the Lord… and the pure spiritual pleasure of seeing God WORK in our midst… the thrill of seeing God build up His Body… (Other folks who have not poured their hearts and souls into the work might say, “Isn’t that nice.”)

4. Paul bears him record [is a continual witness to this fact] (present tense) that he (continually has) a zeal for you!

a. Epaphras was with Paul in Rome.

b. Philemon 23 – Paul refers to him as his “fellow prisoner.”

c. If they were confined together, Paul would certainly get to know this man well… to know his heart for God’s people… his heart to pray… his heart for the churches of Christ in home region…

d. Prison (confinement of any sort) could not preclude him from serving Christ and ministering to the Body of Christ! He was a prayer warrior for those saints.

e. Epaphras perhaps did more to minister to the spiritual well being of the folks in the Lycas Valley than many of the believers in Colossae who were FREE—but who did not have the same quality of HEART for the work of God!

f. Evidently Paul and Epaphras shared the same heart for the work of God.

g. Paul carried upon him the “burden of all the churches.”

h. So did Epaphras—at least for the region he was from.

i. The churches in that Lycas Valley were near and dear to his heart… as I hope the faithful Bible believing churches in the Merrimack Valley are to us!

j. He rejoiced with those who did rejoice and wept with those who wept.

k. Epaphras had a heart for the work of God.

5. God’s work in this age is the LOCAL church.

a. This is what God is doing in this age.

b. No wonder the local church is under such an attack by our adversary the devil.

c. In some areas of the globe his strategy is to persecute the church from without… (China; Muslim countries).

d. In this country his tactic seems to be to corrupt the church from within… watering down its message… blurring the lines of distinction between the church and the world… making it soft… carnal… worldly… businesslike… apathetic… irreverent… spiritually careless… and lacking spiritual understanding and discernment to even recognize the corruption.

e. May WE have a heart for God’s work—the local church—like Paul and Epaphras: willing to be faithful servants… dear fellowservants… prayer warriors… seeking things above… desiring each believer to grow in Christlikeness… and to stand fast in all the will of God… and to see God’s work GROW God’s way…