SERIES: Colossians: Christ is the Answer
Celebrating the Church
SCRIPTURE: Colossians 1:1-14
SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus
Introduction: We begin a new series today on the brief, but powerful, New Testament book called “Colossians.” This letter was written centuries ago to a small church being bombarded by philosophies and practices that were incompatible with the Christian faith. These philosophies are surprisingly similar to the New Age ideas and a New Morality being touted in our own culture, so much so that one can legitimately call New Age thought “ancient heresy,” and the New Morality is really nothing more than the “Old Immorality” dressed up with new terminology. We will find this treatise incredibly relevant for our time. I wish to begin by reading the first 14 verses:
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2 To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel 6 that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Setting the stage (1-2)
The author of Colossians was the Apostle Paul. He wrote the letter from prison nearly thirty years after his conversion and not long before his own death. As he always did, Paul included both doctrine and practical exhortations in this letter, for it was his conviction that our beliefs and our behavior are intimately related.
The recipients of the letter were a small group of believers, called “holy and faithful brothers,” living in Colosse, a city located between Greece and Palestine in the southeast portion of modern-day Turkey. It was located along the Lycus River on the great highway from Ephesus to the Middle East. Founded at least 500 years before Christ, the city was destroyed in the 12th century A.D. and remains uninhabited to this day. However, though physically extinct, the city of Colosse lives on in the Christian church through this potent and practical letter.
While he was in prison, Paul received extensive reports of the state of the church in Colosse from Epaphras, so decided to write and exhort the believers to remain steadfast in their faith. The letter was carried by two men—Tychicus and Onesimus. Tychicus also bore Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church, and Onesimus carried Paul’s personal letter to Philemon, in whose home the Colossian church met. I wonder if they realized how precious their cargo was.
The situation the church faced in Colosse was mixed. In our text today it is evident that the church had much to commend it, but still, all was not well. Some dangerous heretics had infiltrated the assembly, and Epaphras was simply unable to cope with their specious arguments and fake humility, so he had wisely come to Paul for advice. The heresies being perpetrated at Colosse are difficult to understand, for it is never easy to reconstruct the precise tenets of a view when the only data available is a letter designed to counteract it. But certain things can be said about the Colossian heresy with a degree of certainty.
1. It detracted from the preeminence of Jesus Christ.
2. It was characterized by humanistic philosophy.
3. It was syncretistic, i.e., it combined elements from various religions.
4. It was exclusive.
We’ll describe the heresy more in later messages where the content of the letter is directly related to it.
The salutation in the letter is a very common one for Paul: “grace and peace to you from God our Father.” Charis and shalom were the typical Greek and Hebrew greetings to a friend or colleague, and Paul always puts them in this order, never in reverse. The reason is that he considered these words much more than a mere “hello and hello.” When God’s grace meets with the response of faith, peace inevitably results. Unfortunately, among the tragedies of our time is humanity’s pursuit of personal peace apart from God’s enabling grace. That is a vain pursuit.
With that brief review of the setting, we find the rest of our text this morning devoted to thanksgiving and prayer for the church.
Giving thanks for the Church (3-8)
In all but one of his 13 epistles found in the NT, the Apostle Paul begins with thanksgiving. Only in his letter to the Galatians were the issues so serious that he failed to begin with gratitude. Paul’s penchant for praise before exhortation is an excellent principle to follow in our own lives. When we have to rebuke our children or reprimand an employee or express disapproval to anyone, it’s often wise to express the positive first—not to set them up but to help them understand that we desire their best.
It’s also important to be thankful in our prayers. No matter how bad a situation is, we can always think of someone who is worse off than we are. Perhaps more of our prayers should go like this, “Lord, you know I’m concerned about my lack of permanent employment, but first I want to thank you that my family has food and shelter and even a little savings.” Or, “Lord, my daughter is giving me fits, but I want you to know how grateful I am that I even have a family, and that everyone’s healthy, and that my wife is working with me rather than against me on this problem.”
Paul had a number of concerns about the Colossian church, but first he gives thanks to God for two things in this opening paragraph, beginning with …
The health of the Body. “We always thank God . . . because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints—the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven.” Faith, love, and hope are the key terms here—often grouped together in the NT as the three great Christian graces. Faith is the root of the Christian life and love is the fruit. Both spring from hope.
People talk about faith a lot today, but faith has no intrinsic value in itself. It must derive its value from its object. When someone says that he or she has faith, the question must be asked, “Faith in what? In reincarnation? Faith that God exists? Faith in faith?” The Colossians’ faith was in Jesus Christ, who alone can same mankind from his sin.
Their love, Paul observes gratefully, is not concentrated on a few individuals but reaches out to include “all the saints.” The reference to “saints” does not mean those who have died, having made it through a canonization process. The NT knows nothing of a unique class of sainthood established by a church hierarchy; rather every believer—young or old, mature or immature, holy or carnal—is viewed in the Bible as a saint. Call me St. Michael if you like; I may not always act saintly, but I amone. But don’t be surprised if I call you St. Bill or St. Cathy in return.
Hope is mentioned in addition to faith and love because it is the seedbed from which the other two spring. Hope for the future creates an anticipation in the heart that has a powerful effect upon present attitudes. Whenever someone comes to me with a marriage that is on the rocks, I always ask this question: “Do you have any hope at all this marriage can be saved?” Sometimes there’s a long silence but almost always the answer comes back that, “Yes, I suppose it’s possible.” That’s all that’s needed to give faith and love a chance.
The second factor for which Paul gives thanks is …
The effectiveness of the Gospel. “Gospel” simply means “good news.” And Paul equates the Good News with the “word of truth”, i.e., the Scriptures, in verse 5. He says, “All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it.” Sometimes we may get the feeling that we’re an isolated pocket of evangelicals trying to hold on to truth by our fingernails while the rest of the world is on a fast train to hell. It isn’t so—the Gospel is alive and well all over the world, more so in some places than even here.
I get a newsletter called “National & International Religion Report”, edited by Ed Plowman. In the October 7, 1991 issue the following paragraph is found on the first page:
“Crucial debate in the Russian parliament was halted when news arrived that Bibles were being given away in the main hall outside. Legislators, policemen, cooks, secretaries, and scores of bureaucrats elbowed their way into several lines waiting for Bibles, New Testaments, and copies of the Children’s Bible being handed out by members of a Bible society in Moscow. Some 6,000 volumes were given away, and as the supply dwindled, clamor gave way to near chaos.”
In the December 30 issue I read the following article:
“Whole villages have been converted to Christianity in Myanmar, formerly Burma, since the government allowed missionaries connected with the Jesus Film Project to show a Burmese-language version of the gospel movie there. Hugh Roberson, a regional project director (and Trudie Olson’s brother), said the film has been seen by more than 108,000 Burmese people since April, and 4,200 of the viewers have indicated decisions for Christ. Among them were 37 Buddhist monks. Six churches have been planted in the country as a result of the film. Also numerous supernatural healings took place during film showings in the region.”
I could go on and on. Believe me, the Gospel is alive and well. But it does need to be shared. Epaphras is the one who shared it with the Colossians, and Paul is not hesitant to commend him as a dear fellow servant and a faithful minister. When we think of the Colossians we usually think of Paul, because he wrote this letter. But Paul wasn’t the founder of this church—Epaphras was. In fact, it’s possible Paul never visited the church in Colosse, for in 2:1 he speaks to “those who have not met me personally.”
The reason we have this marvelous treatise is because an unknown but faithful man decided to share the Gospel in his sphere of influence. May God raise up many from our midst who will do the same.
Giving thanks for the church leads secondly to …
Praying for the Church (9-14)
Paul’s prayer life never ceases to amaze us, and we may be tempted to suggest that he had little else to do in prison. The fact is, he prayed faithfully and earnestly even when on his busy missionary journeys. The first thing that strikes me here in verse 9 and following is …
The nature of effective prayer (9) It is …
1. Immediate. Paul says he has been praying “since the day we heard about you.” He didn’t wait for a crisis to develop before starting to pray, because he believed prayer to be preventive medicine as well as curative. Crisis prayer is important, and we would never get through life without it, but what we need to learn is that we may not have so many crises if prayer were a more normal part of our lives. Let me ask you, do you pray regularly for your spouse and children even when there are no major problems? How about your church? Your nation? Secondly, effective prayer is …
2. Continual. Verse 9 goes on, “We have not stopped praying for you.” Samuel spoke of the “sin against the Lord of ceasing to pray for you,” which is a very common sin in the church today. Obviously not everyone we know can be on our daily prayer list, but when God has placed someone on our hearts, we should pray continually until our prayer is answered. That may be weeks, it may be months, and it may even be years in some cases. Some of you are sitting next to family members who came to Christ only after years of continual prayer.
Effective prayer is not just immediate and continual; it is also …
3. Theological, i.e., it is God-centered. “We have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will.” Recently a poll published in Newsweek indicated that an overwhelming percentage of Americans pray, including 20% of the atheists! Now that rattled my cage. Who are the atheists praying to? But you know something? Many Christian prayers could probably be prayed just as well by an atheist, because they are so lacking in theological content that it would hardly matter if they were addressed to God or the Force. “God, give me this, protect me from that, and bless them. Amen.”
Effective prayer starts and ends with truth about God and has as its primary focus, not physical or medical or financial needs, but rather spiritual needs, the first and foremost being the need to know and discern God’s will. Fourthly, effective prayer is …
4. Practical. Verse 9 concludes this way: “We have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.” Some wag once said, “If you want knowledge, go to college. If you want wisdom, go to God.” Well, the knowledge Paul desires for the Colossians is not college knowledge; it’s not encyclopedic or scientific or technical. It is practical knowledge characterized by wisdom and discernment.
How do you get wisdom? You pray for it. James wrote, “If any of you lack wisdom let him ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” There’s no greater favor we could do for one another than to pray for God to fill one another with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
So much for the nature of effective prayer. The rest of our text concerns the goals Paul prays for in the lives of the believers at Colosse. I don’t know one of these goals that isn’t just as important for the believers in West County. So let’s examine them.
The goal of effective prayer (10-14)
1. Living worthy. Verse 10: “And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord.” The Greek word for “live” here is literally “walk,” a term used symbolically throughout the Scriptures to refer to one’s conduct. A worthy walk does not necessarily mean a perfect walk. “Worthy” means fitting or appropriate, not contradictory. Paul is simply praying that the Colossian believers would walk their talk. A second closely related goal is …
2. Pleasing Christ. “We pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way.” The juxtaposition of walking and pleasing reminds us of Enoch, of whom the Scripture says, “He walked with God, He pleased God, and God took him.” The question arises, of course, how do I know if what I’m doing is pleasing Christ? The answer is simple. You can’t know if you aren’t listening to what He says, and He speaks to us principally through the Bible. A third goal of effective prayer is …
3. Bearing fruit, also found in verse 10: “bearing fruit in every good work.” We have traditionally viewed fruit-bearing as soul-winning, but soul-winning is only one part of fruit-bearing. A tree that bears fruit is not only a reproductive tree; it is also a healthy tree, a useful tree, and a pleasant tree to be around. So also, a believer who is bearing fruit is one who is healthy, useful, and pleasant to be around, as well as reproductive.
Fruit-bearing is not automatic; it involves cultivating, fertilizing, watering, and pruning before eventual harvest. Unfortunately, we are known to react negatively to some of those steps. That is why fruit-bearing is an appropriate subject for prayer. The fourth goal Paul prays for is …
4. Increasing in knowledge. Earlier Paul had prayed for God to fill them with the knowledge of his will. Now he adds his prayer that they would be growing in their knowledge. I think this repetition shows the dynamic connection between spirituality and knowledge. You simply can’t bear fruit on a long-term basis unless you are also growing in your knowledge of God. One feeds upon the other in a great upward spiral. The more one serves God the more he wants to know Him, and the better He gets to know Him, the more he desires to serve Him. I’m always leery of Christian people who profess to want Christ as Lord of their lives, but they cannot find time for regular Bible study or personal discipleship.
Fifthly, and closely related to the previous goals, is …
5. Growing strong. Verse 11: “being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience.” Every one of us knows the need for power in our lives. In fact, even the world sees power as the key to getting anywhere, only the world isn’t looking for divine power but human power—sometimes even demonic power.
I’m struck by what this verse doesn’t say. It doesn’t say, “being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have no further illness or poverty or affliction.” No, we need great endurance and patient in our illness or poverty or affliction. Too often we think of divine power only in terms of miracles. But Paul’s prayer is for great endurance and patience even when the miracles don’t come. The two words, “endurance” and “patience,” are closely related, but whereas the first has to do with adverse circumstances, the second has more to do with adverse people. We need both, don’t we? This is the way we must pray for one another, as well as for ourselves: “Lord, give us perseverance in difficulties and patience with people.”
Sir Winston Churchill was invited back to his alma mater, Harrow, to address the students near the end of his remarkable life of public service, which included guiding Britain through her darkest and finest hours. When the five-foot, five-inch bulldog of a man took the platform, everyone waited breathlessly for his words, for he was known for his incredible oratory. “Young gentlemen,” he said, “Never give up. Never give up. Never give up! Never! Never! Never!” And with that he sat down.[i] Paul would have applauded, for that was his prayer for the Colossians.
Finally, Paul’s sixth expressed goal has to do with …
6. Giving thanks joyfully. Paul had modeled a thankful heart earlier in the chapter; now he exhorts the Colossians to be thankful as well. There is a difference, you know, between giving thanks and joyfully giving thanks. From time to time I remind my son to thank his mother for the supper she has prepared, and he will always do it, but depending upon what she has fixed the thanks can be anywhere from grudging to sincere. But when we got him a Himalayan kitten for Christmas, he gave thanks joyfully. No holds barred, no reservations, no hesitancy. He was joyfully grateful.
And that’s the way Paul prays that we will be in our attitude toward the Father. And in case we are doubtful that our station in life merits such unreserved thanksgiving, he offers three good reasons for every Christian to thank God joyfully. None of them, interestingly, relate to the typical things we express thanks for—family, home, food, clothing, friends, health, journey mercies. No, again Paul’s focus is on the spiritual, as he mentions first …
Our inheritance. In verse 12 he speaks of “joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.” I have known people who were aware they had a sizeable inheritance coming from a parent or grandparent, and it affected their lives immeasurably. Some became lazy and irresponsible. Others became great risk takers. Still others, like C. T. Studd, gave their lives and their fortune in service to others. Paul is praying that our lives too will be immeasurably affected by the knowledge of our spiritual inheritance—primarily in that we would be joyfully thankful to God.
By the way, the inheritance he speaks of is not just something for the future. It’s also ours now. Paul uses the past tense to indicate that the rescue and transfer have been signed and sealed, even though possession of the full inheritance has not yet taken place. A second cause for giving thanks joyfully is …
Our redemption. The term “redemption” in NT times meant simply to buy back a slave by payment of a ransom. And that’s in essence what God did for us. We who had become slaves to sin were purchased by God through the ransom price of the blood of Christ. And a third cause for giving thanks joyfully is …
Our forgiveness. “Forgiven” may be the most powerful word in human speech. We haveforgiveness. It is a gift from God when we put our faith and trust in His Son.
An anonymous author penned these words:
If our greatest need had been information … God would have sent us an
educator.
If our greatest need had been technology … God would have sent us a
scientist.
If our greatest need had been money … God would have sent us an
economist.
If our greatest need had been pleasures … God would have sent us an
entertainer.
But our greatest need was forgiveness … So God sent us a Savior.
There is no greater reason to joyfully give thanks than that God forgave our sins through Jesus Christ. When we committed our lives to Jesus, His forgiveness was personalized to our accounts. But that didn’t apply only to the sins we had committed; it also applies to those we yet commit. We have failed God; perhaps even this day we have sinned. But God provides this wonderful promise: “If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
Conclusion: The Church is a marvelous entity—the visible expression of Christ’s body here on earth. As members we have much for which to be thankful and much for which to pray. Let us make a conscious effort to develop a thankful attitude; it will help us see our problems in a new light. And let us make a conscious effort to lift one another up in effective prayer; it will lift our spiritual growth to a new level.
DATE: January 12, 1992
Tags:
Heresy
Thankfulness
Prayer
Inheritance
Forgiveness
[i] This story is shared in R. Kent Hughes’ commentary, Colossians and Philemon: The Supremacy of Christ, 26.