Sabbath: Standing in All the Will of God
Daily Lesson for Sabbath 21st of March 2026
Image © Pacific Press
Read for This Week’s Study
Colossians 4:7-18; Ephesians 6:21; Acts 15:36-40; 2 Timothy 4:10-11; 2 Peter 3:10-14; Isaiah 60:1-3.
Memory Text:
“In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18, NKJV).
This final portion of Colossians reveals Paul’s wider network of coworkers. Acts shows him teaming up first with Barnabas, then with Silas, and then gives an overview of his three missionary journeys.
This week we will look at Paul’s mission strategy, which involved the very efficient use of time and resources in reaching the major centers of the Roman Empire, as well as training promising lay workers in order to reach the cities and towns that Paul would not visit, such as Colossae, Laodicea, and Hierapolis.
Through personal visits during his travels and, especially as a prisoner, through his epistles, Paul was constantly linking people and churches. He recognized that the success of the gospel mission depended upon everyone working together—Jewish and Gentile Christians; men and women; such people as Tychicus, Aristarchus, Justus, Epaphras, Luke, and Nympha. Intriguingly, we also hear of a letter he wrote to Laodicea that has not been preserved for us. Paul packs a lot in these final verses, including a personal exhortation to a man named Archippus. He did everything possible to strengthen the churches while he still could.
I love how Paul finishes his letter to the Colossians with a lot of personal stuff. Remember that he had never visited Colossae, but he knew people who had and wanted to make connections. We call in networking nowadays. He was working the switchboard – running a first century “WhatsApp!” It is worth going back and rereading Colossians to experience the mix of theology and its social application. Paul does not separate the two. The theology has real consequences for our social interaction. The second half of Chapter 4 is quite poignant. This letter is not a theological treatise; it is a personal letter. Pual knows their names and he knows that they know the names of the people who were with him. Those last few verses of the letter are the most important.
We need to understand more than anything else that the Gospel is not about telling people “the truth”. It is about making connections with people, The truth is revealed by connection. That is how God works.
God said to Isaiah: “Look, I’ve written your names on the backs of my hands.” Isa 49:16 MSG. God wants to make connectons.
As Paul brought his letter to the Colossians to a close, and likewise as we come to the end of this book for the time being, what is the takeaway message? As for me, it is a prayer. “Dear Lord Jesus, many thanks for the privilege and blessing to have studied about you and your salvation in the book of Colossians. You spoke to my soul; you touched my heart and mind. Dear Lord Jesus, may this privilege and blessing never go in vain. As your return is sure and imminent, may you be all and all in my life. May the revelation and understanding I have received through the book of Colossians help me to be rooted in your truth and keep me in the narrow path until you come to usher in your eternal kingdom, Amen”
Amen!
Our society today is increasingly characterized by godlessness, immorality, lust, adultery, and the pervasive influence of pornography, while gluttony is on the rise, with many now classified as overweight due to unhealthy habits and addictions; at the same time, drunkenness and a culture of constant partying have become normalized, driven by slogans like, “You only live once—make the most of it.” In the midst of these realities, many modern believers seem to have forgotten the mystery of Christ that was revealed to Paul, who writes in Colossians 4:12, “Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, greets you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.” Paul consistently demonstrated a deep understanding of what it means to stand in the will of God, as he also reminds Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:17, “Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the mouth of the lion.” For Paul, the will of God was extremely clear to faithfully proclaim and share the good news of God’s grace with all people this was never centered on his own desires but on obedience to God’s calling; this serves as a powerful reminder to me that my singular goal, like Paul’s, is to share the pure gospel of God’s grace, and be all times determined to live daily by proclaiming the good news in my workplace, in my neighborhood, and among my friends and peers.
How many people do you know that are happy with being overweight.Can you identify with the struggles and challenges of overweight. Is it fair to associate being overweight with gluttony. If I was overweight your comment would be hurtful rather than helpful. Walking in other people shoes will help to be more sensitive to other people’s physical appearances.
I agree. I am not saying it is good to be overweight – it is unhealthy – but it is a complex issue. Food can be an addiction as much as many other things and many people use it to numb pain.
I think when you look at gluttony as described in the Bible, it is not about being overweight. It is about a lifestyle of indulgence where you live to have parties and enjoy yourself. Now certainly that involved overeating and probably some gluttons were obese. But the food was just a symptom of a callous attitude and I feel that’s what God principally was condemning.
The Gospel is all about relationships (Maurice has been preaching this a long time on this blog and I have come to accept it as being true)
Let us endeavor in our interactions with both believers and unbelievers to sow cords of love even as we try to point them to the true source of Love-our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ!!!!!
Uniting heaven and earth is fully about cooperating with God to advance His will on earth. Paul understood and took this seriously. Making the will come through is easy if we ask of Him the power.
In the last days of earth’s history, we will stand on the promises of God our Saviour. We will stand because the Holy Spirt has ingrained in our minds bypassing out feelings of chaos and turmoil going on around us and stand though the so seemingly right messaging that our hearts set in the principles of the Bible tell us otherwise. Stand for the right my brothers and sisters. Stand on the promises of God our Lord.
That’s just one aspect to standing on all of God’s will. Since He has gifted us the will to stand for the right, we need to praise Him praise Him Jesus our blessed Redeemer. Then we vocalize glory and Honor to Him. A wonderful Saviour is Jesus our Lord, He takes our burdens away, He holdeth us up and we shall not be moved, He giveth us strength as our day.
Now the chorus:
He hideth our soul in the cleft of the rock
That shadows a dry thirsty land;
He hideth our lives in the depths of His love
And coveth us there with His hand.
And coveth us there with Hid Hand.
I don’t know about you, we have been in a winter of a dry thirsty land, not spiritually, rather physically, pray for us in Northwest Kansas and eastern Colorado that the spring will bring April showers so as the winter wheat will survive.
How about turning the link that brings people together into one of gratitude?