TOPIC:‌“A Burdening Concern For a Distressing Situation”

                 by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap

TEXT:‌Colossians 2:1-7

‌‌“For I would that you knew what great conflict I have for you” (2:1).

‌In passing from chapter 1 to chapter 2 of Colossians, we go from Paul's DELIGHT to Paul's DISTRESS. He has a heavy heart over the situation which existed at Colossae. The chapter before us is a revelation of the heart of Paul for these believers. Danger threatens them from all sides. Their welfare is at stake. Their safety and security in Christ is on the brink of being destroyed. Though separated by mountains and sea from them, Paul's throbbing heart beats with a passionate love for them. Let us now look at Paul's burdened state of mind for this flock of believers.

I.

‌Think, first of all, of the INTENSITY of Paul's concern. He writes in verse 1: “For I would that you knew what great conflict I have for you.” The word “conflict” as we find it in the Authorized Version would better be rendered “struggle” or “agony.” That's why Phillips gives us this rendering: “I wish you could understand how deep is my anxiety for you.” The NLT has it: “I want you to know how much I have agonized for you.”

‌Since Paul is unable to come personally to instruct them, being a prisoner of Caesar, against the errors of the Colossian heresy, he can struggle in prayer for them while living in that Roman dungeon. Paul passionately prays that they will not allow themselves to be allured away from the simple faith they have in Christ to save them. It seems from this verse that these believers had not as Alexander Maclaren wrote in his commentary “felt the magnetism of Paul's personal presence.” As a matter of fact, there is no mention in the book of Acts that Paul ever visited Colossae in any of his missionary trips. But though a prisoner, though he had never seen their faces, he occupies himself in intercessory prayer for their welfare. May this same prayerful concern for friends and foes be found in us as it was in Paul.

‌In coming to grips with what Paul so magnificently demonstrated - a concerning heart - let me give you this illustration. Perhaps none of you have ever heard of Frank Crossley. Neither had C. T. Studd, the great missionary to China. But Studd would never forget the man throughout his life. He writes of a time in which his family was desperately in need of . . .