Colossians: Missionary Zeal

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Talk intro:

We’re continuing our journey through the book of Colossians today, like last week we’re taking a slight detour. Again this week we are turning our eyes to the harvest field of the world around us as we focus on world missions.

This Sunday is traditionally our Faith Promise Sunday where we make ‘faith promises’ to support our missionaries. .


Turn with me to Colossians 4:13 and let’s read it…..

In this passage Paul is writing about his friend and fellow ‘missionary’ Epaphras. The interesting thing is what Paul says about him. Epaphras has a zeal for the churches. The Greek word for ‘zeal’ comes from a word that means to boil with heat. Epaphras has a passion for the churches that he seems to have caught from Paul.

It seems that everyone around Paul catches his zeal and passion for the churches and preaching the gospel to people they have never met in places where no one has gone before. In reality they don’t catch this zeal from Paul it is born in them by the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the driving force behind missions; both going and giving.

While it is the Holy Spirit who drives us to respond to the commission of Jesus to go into all the world as His witnesses there is a part of this zeal that is contagious. When you’re around passionate people it does something in us. When I hear the stories of missionaries who shipped their goods across the oceans in caskets because they assumed they would never return it does something in me.

The Holy Spirit uses passionate people to create a zeal and passion for missions in us.

I know that the economy is tough right now and that there are a hundred priorities that need our attention, but missions is something that really should be a priority above other things.

The four signs of a passionate global missions church:

A church that prays for missionaries
A church that gives to missionaries
A church that receives missionaries…welcomes them and encourages them (they don’t avoid missions services because they think they’re boring or don’t want to give an offering.)
A church that sends missionaries

My prayer and goal for this year’s missions emphasis week is that the Holy Spirit would create a passion for missions in us.

I have been at this for a while and I have to admit that when this Sunday comes around each year I struggle with it because too often it feels like I’m trying to ‘sell’ missions giving so I always feel slightly awkward about it.

So as I was thinking about it this week I felt a strange impression to not focus on the money aspect at all. Let’s face it you all know that missions is very important and the majority of you already give very generously and even sacrificially. So I felt this peace about asking for a different kind of ‘Faith Promise’ so we’re going to talk about that a little bit this morning.

In your bulletin there is a Faith Promise card, but if you’re already giving sacrificially to support missionaries I’m not asking you to give more. The Holy Spirit may be prompting you so if you feel that inner voice of the Holy Spirit urging you to give more by all means do it. Or if you haven’t given to missions but you feel the Holy Spirit urging you to start giving, even if it’s a $1 a month, please obey Him.

But there is one Faith Promise I’d like us all to commit ourselves to and that is to pray that God would give us a zeal for the lost and in that a zeal for missions.

When you complete this little card I want you to bring it and place it on the communion table as your faith promise and commitment to pray for zeal and passion for the lost and for global missions.