Faithful Minister

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS

FAITHFUL MINISTER

Col 1:6-8

All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

NIV

First, we should note that Epaphras is the man, perhaps a disciple of Paul, or a dear friend, or both is the man who started the Colossian church and reported back to Paul what had been happening in the church. It appears this is all we know about this man, however, what we do know is that he is a faithful minister of Christ and a fellow servant. What this tells us is there should be a real sense of humility in being a faithful minister of Christ. The idea of being a servant gives us that picture. What we also need to see is from this church's growth. This is not the growth in numbers, but in their relationship with God. The idea Paul is portraying here is there should always be an effect of the gospel upon the church. We, the church should be bearing fruit and growing because we understand God’s grace in all its truth. It is interesting this time the Greek word translated grace is charin, not charis. This should be seen as a favor, not that divine influence definition. Sometimes charin is translated as a gift. In this context, it seems right to see that grace is meant the favor or gift of God, who is Christ Jesus. This is seeing God’s grace in all its truth. They learned the gospel message, the gift of God, Jesus on the cross, dying for their sin from Epaphras. This should be the main point of all evangelistic concepts, declaring the gift of God, his grace, his sending his Son to be the sacrifice for our sin. Much of all the rest of the truth is for the church, to learn and grow in their walk in the Lord. We have both tasks. We need to be that faithful servant who tells of the gift of God, his grace, as well as always be about bearing fruit and growing. We fail far too much at both of these. Will we ever learn to be that faithful minister? Will we ever learn to listen to the voice of God more than our own? Will we ever be so filled with the Spirit, we exhibit his love? We still have a way to go, always learning, always pondering how we fail, yet his love never does. So, we keep trying to be who we should be, keeping on keeping on. Someday we might just get it right, being that faithful minister of Christ.