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.