11 Oct 2026
Colossians 4:2-6: Dependers Before Doers
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Rev. John Pennylegion – October 11, 2026
Good morning, welcome to Christ the King. My name is Penny, and I’m the senior pastor here. And friends, it is good to be with you. If you are a guest or visitor, we’re glad that you would join us this morning, that we can gather together and to worship and to sing and to come to God’s word. And if we haven’t had the opportunity to meet, I would love to meet you. I’m usually in the back there after the service. I’d love to greet you because we are glad that you would join us this morning. And this morning, we’re continuing in our series in the book of Colossians. We’re nearing the end. We’re moving into chapter four this morning, and there are only four chapters. So we have this morning and then one more sermon in the book of Colossians. And then after Colossians, we’re going to spend a few weeks in the minor prophet Zephaniah. So probably no one had a quiet time this morning in the book of Zephaniah. But we’re going to spend a few weeks in that before we move into the season of Advent. So if you like to plan, if you like to look ahead, that’s what you can be expecting.
But this morning, we’re in the beginning of Colossians 4. And one of the things as we’re moving into that I thought would be helpful is to just remind us of where we’ve been. In the very first chapter early on in the book of Colossians, we’re told that Jesus is the one who is preeminent over all things. That in all things, Jesus is the king. He is the ruler. He rules over our lives. He rules over this world. He rules over you and me. He is the preeminent one. Now, what’s amazing about that is that Jesus isn’t simply this preeminent one who is far off from us. But very quickly after hearing about his preeminence, we heard about how Jesus takes all that he has done, his righteous works, his work on the cross, his death and resurrection, he takes all that he has done and he applies it to his people, to you and to me. So you remember, we are united to Christ, right? So what is true of Jesus is true of us. I mean, that’s remarkable to think about. His death and resurrection, Paul says, is ours. So that he can say that we have died with Christ and risen with him. Now, coming out of that discussion about our union with Christ, Paul then spent pretty much an entire chapter telling us how we respond by putting off the old and putting on the new, of fleeing from vice and fleeing to virtue. That was chapter 3. And now as we come into chapter 4, we have this last encouragement, this final exhortation of dependence. So let’s read Colossians 4, beginning in verse 2. Paul writes,
“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. 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.” (ESV)
Friends, this is the word of the Lord. Let me pray for us.
Heavenly Father, we thank you that as we come to your word, you meet with us, that you are at work in our midst. And so we ask, Father, that you would use your spirit to open our eyes and soften our hearts, and that you would give us understanding. I pray, Father, that the words that are spoken would be honoring to you, and that our minds as we think upon them, our hearts as we take them in, that our posture would be glorifying to you. Because, Father, everything we do, we want to honor you. We pray this in Christ’s name. Amen.
So last night, as Cole and I were watching the baseball game, like I’m sure all of you were, a commercial came on, which, you know, commercials come on. And Cole did what everyone else in my family does every time a
