Colossians 4:12 June 15 & 16, 2014 Summer Sermon Series – Epaphras

A Lesson in Wrestling in Prayer!

Colossians 4:12 Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.

Do the names Verne Gagne, Nick Bockwinkel and Hulk Hogan sound familiar? For many, those names don’t sound like much. But for those who are interested in the World of Professional Wrestling Entertainment, they are the names of some of their greatest stars. Some of them are part of the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) for decades already. It is all real wrestling, right? I don’t know if it is or not. Today the world of professional wrestling is a lucrative business with millions being spent on shows and other spin-off items. Yet, at some time in our life, we have all seen the jumps off the ropes, the eye gouging and the breaking of folding chairs over the heads of competitors. We have all laughed at the headlocks and pile drivers.

With all kidding aside, there is a real side to the sport of wrestling. There are the wrestlers who will spend hours strengthening their bodies for their matches. They have spent hours of their lives practicing and competing with their backs on the ground watching a referee begin his count. Even though I have never wrestled in any competitive way, I have to admire those who do. You have to respect the hard work that is involved in that sport.

Yet, “wrestling” is not a word that we usually associate with prayer. It is a word that means: “to agonize over or to engage in a battle.” There are a number of people in the Bible who wrestled with God in prayer. Jacob wrestled with God late one night as he was returning home to his father and brother as we heard in our first lesson today. We may not even understand all the details as to how that happened. Jacob trusted God and his promises. He was going to hold God to those promises. He was not going to let go of God. Abraham wrestled with God in prayer, as he agonized over the destruction of Sodom and its people. He pleaded for God to spare the city if there were even just 10 believers in it. Moses wrestled with God several times in his prayers for the people of Israel. Then there is the ultimate wrestling in prayer that happened in the Garden of Gethsemane by Jesus as he pleaded with his Heavenly Father to find some other way to save the world from its sin. Yet, fully willing to follow his Father’s will.

This morning, we see another example of a person who wrestled with God in prayer. His name was Epaphras. You may not even remember even hearing his name until this morning. His name is mentioned only three times in all of Scripture – twice in Colossians and once in Philemon. Who was he? This morning, let us take a look at this man and see a “Lesson in Wrestling in Prayer.”

In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul writes 13 letters to different churches. There are only 2 of those churches that the Apostle Paul did not start – the church in Colosse and the church in Rome. The founding pastor of the church in Colosse was Epaphras. Colosse had once been a flourishing city. By the time of the Apostle Paul it had declined into a small and unimportant village. Even though Paul may have passed through this city, it doesn’t appear that he did any missionary work there. Even though there may have been those who didn’t care about this city anymore, Epaphras did. He cared for the people. He shared the message of Jesus.

Yet, what is so fascinating about Epaphras is what Paul praises him for. Paul calls him a “servant of Christ Jesus.” He was faithful in his work, but it doesn’t appear that he became a star in the religious world of that day. He probably didn’t have a spectacular church. Look at the heart he had for his congregation – “He is always wrestling in prayer for you.” Epaphras was a “Prayer Wrestler.” Frequently, he went to the mat for his fellow believers. He was always laying his prayers before the throne of God – not for himself – but for other fellow believers. His prayers were continuous and strenuous. They were rigorous and forceful. He kept praying for others – even when he seems to be in prison with Paul. When the Apostle Paul writes to Philemon, he describes Epiphras as “my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus.” It seems as if there was nothing that was going to stop this man from being a Prayer Wrestler. Of all the qualities that Paul could have listed about this man, he speaks about his wrestling in prayer – wrestling in prayer for others. It seems to be a quality that everyone seemed to know about him.

Are you a Prayer Wrestler? Do you take your prayers to God? Do you pray for others or for yourself? Dads – today is Father’s Day. I have no doubt that there are many wonderful things you do for your family. But does your family see you as a Prayer Wrestler? Someone who earnestly prays for not just his family, but for his family of believers? I don’t ask that question to make you feel guilty or point out some fault in you. Because I am just as guilty in not doing that. Go to the cross of Jesus. There you see Jesus’ love – not for himself, but for the people of this world. There you see the greatest wrestling match this world has ever seen. There you see the one who will enable you to wrestle in prayer. It doesn’t matter if you are dad, or son, or daughter, or mom, or grandpa, or grandma or single. You will see the one who moves you to wrestle with God in prayer.

Certainly, it is true that Epaphras seems to have been given a special talent by the Lord. He seems to have a unique ability for fervent prayer. He had a special love for fellow believers. We don’t know if he was a gifted preacher. We don’t know if he had all the answers at every meeting. We don’t know if he was the smoothest speaker. But it certainly appears that he was a Prayer Wrestler. That is a lesson that we can all learn from this pastor, whose name was Epaphras. May all of us learn a few wrestling moves from Epaphras – a man who “is always wrestling in prayer.” Amen.