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Good morning dear friends;
Today we begin a very exciting part of our journey as we are “Walking with Jesus”, as we begin reading together the wonderful letter Paul wrote to the Christians in the city of Colosse. In our Bible it’s called Colossians.
We presume Paul sent it to the Colossian Christians at the same time as he sent his letter to Mr. Philemon, since we believe Philemon lived in Colosse. These were the first two letters the Apostle Paul wrote during his two years of house arrest in Rome. (Acts. 28:30,31)
Interestingly, we have no record of Paul ever visiting the city of Colosse, and thus you’ll notice in chapter 1 vs. 3&4 Paul writes, “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have HEARD of your faith in Christ Jesus…” I also notice that Paul celebrates that the Gospel came to Colosse not by him or any other of the original 12 disciples of Jesus, but rather by a man named Epaphras. Isn’t it wonderful to see how ANYONE can bring the Gospel to other people. That is not a privilege reserved for Pastors or Missionaries. It’s the privilege of any person who has experienced Jesus’ life changing work in their lives.
So, stop for just a moment here…are you an Epaphras? Have you experienced Jesus’ deliverance from your sin bondage and have you shared your story with other people? My friends, you have NOTHING more valuable that you can share… not your wisdom, or your wealth, or your even your wit, that might bring people joy. No…, it’s your STORY my friends, the story of how you are “walking your life journey with Jesus”. . .that is the most valuable thing you have to share with others, because your story may lead them to Jesus, and their rescue and then they will begin their story with Jesus!
Do you see in 1:7,8 Paul writes “You learned it (the Gospel) from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.” It appears from Colossians 4:12,13 that Mr. Epaphras traveled to Rome to visited Paul in prison, gave Paul a report of how things were going with the Christians in Colosse, and stayed with Paul for some time. It is possible then, it was Epaphras with whom Paul sent the letters to Philemon and the Church that met in his home, back to Colosse. (Philemon vs 2)
I’m sure you’ve noticed Paul always begins his letters in similar fashion. First, he gives his name, making sure the readers know who the letter is coming from, and please notice Paul always refers to his special calling from God, his life mission. In this case Paul writes “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God…”. We remember “apostle” was a very special word used ONLY for a select group of people. They had been personally invited by an encounter with Jesus Christ, to follow Him and learn from Him. Then they had been sent personally by Jesus, commissioned to go as His representative, to share His Gospel. Third, they had been empowered by Jesus and the Holy Spirit of God, to boldly speak Jesus’ truth, the Gospel, and to give authenticating evidence of their being sent by Jesus through miracles which they preformed in His name.
You’ll notice Paul includes Timothy in his greeting, but does not refer to Timothy as an “apostle”. Timothy had been a disciple of Paul who taught him a great deal about Jesus, and Timothy had joined Paul in planting and serving churches, but Timothy was not an apostle by the criteria I’ve shown you.
Notice to whom Paul is addressing this letter… “To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse.” Does that mean Paul was not interested in the women and children, or those who were not yet Christians in Colosse? Of course not my friends, but here Paul is calling on the men of this little church, to be the spiritual leaders of the group, reminding them that they are now “holy”, thus no longer should they be living in the sinful stuff of their past, and they are to be ‘faithful’. Faithful to what? Faithful to Jesus, faithful to the leading and teaching of the Holy Spirit, faithful to the Word of God as they had it.
Today, we’re not going to try and digest the entire first chapter, only vs. 1-14, OK?
Take note of this powerful word from Paul in verse 6: “All over the world, this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you, since the first day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth.” Of course for Paul, writing in about the year 60ad, ‘all the world’ was fairly small as compared to our world today, right? He knew nothing of Africa or east Asia or North & South America, and he knew little of Europe. His world was the Roman Empire, but God was shaking that empire as the Gospel moved from town to town, beginning in Jerusalem. Today, my friends, there are still some places where the Gospel is not known, but they are few, as compared to Paul’s day. In fact we can celebrate that in your lifetime and mine, the Gospel of Jesus has moved farther and faster, reached more people, by the use of more communication platforms, than in all of history from the days of Jesus to WWII!! Now you might need to read that again to grasp it!
So what was this evidence of the Gospel ‘bearing fruit’ that Paul had heard about? Do you see it in vs. 4&5? “…FAITH in Christ Jesus…LOVE for all the saints…that spring up from the HOPE that is stored up for you in heaven, that you have heard about in the word of TRUTH, the Gospel…” Do you know why this tangible, visible evidence of a person’s salvation and transformation is so important? Because there is no PHYSICAL change that normally takes place in a person when they trust Jesus to save them from their sin. When a person trusts Jesus Christ with their life, their skin doesn’t change color; nor does their hair all fall out; nor do they grow a third eye! Nothing changes in our physical appearance…so how do we or anyone else know, that we have genuinely, authentically been born again (John 3:3-7) by the Holy Spirit of God into “a new creation in Christ” (2 Cor. 5:17)? This question is essentially what Paul’s letter to the Colossian Christians is all about, and it begins right here in these opening verses.
Living daily by faith in Christ is not possible for someone who has not trusted fully in Jesus Christ. It means the ability to discern how God is leading you and taking practical faith steps to follow Him. That’s what leads missionaries to pack up and move overseas, or you and me to pack up and follow God’s leading to a new town, for a new job or a new church ministry. It’s trusting in God and His promises, His Word, His leading of you by His Holy Spirit. . .that’s practical, powerful, faith my friends, and it’s only possible in the life of a genuine, Holy Spirit transformed person!
Oh, you might say, this matter of LOVE that Paul speaks about…many people are generous, and loving and kind and are not Christians, they’ve never trusted in Jesus. Yes, that’s true, but the LOVE Paul is writing about here is the kind of LOVE that Jesus Himself lived out. It’s not emotional butterflies in your stomach, it’s passing along to others the unconditional, self-sacrificing love Jesus has given to you! That’s the kind of love that took Jesus to the cross. I’ve heard it said, “It wasn’t the nails that kept Jesus on the cross, it was His love for humanity, even those who beat Him and pounded the nails into His hands and feet.” That kind of love is not consistently possible without the transforming work of the Holy Spirit of God in your life and mine!
And what about this matter of HOPE? My friends, the hope that God promises and Jesus offers us through our salvation relationship with Him, is the certain hope of Heaven as a real place where we will spend eternity with God. It’s the HOPE that God is with you, His son or daughter, at all times, in all situations, from the moment you trust Jesus as your Savior, all the way to heaven, therefore you and I can face ANYTHING, because we never face anything without God! This hope is rooted in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, our living and reigning King! (Heb. 7:25)
And there’s one more important word Paul uses in these opening verses, do you see it? TRUTH. God’s unchanging truth is the truth upon which any and all truthful realities are discovered or truthful statements are made. I love this powerful Old Testament statement from God: “This is what the LORD says: He who created the heavens and the earth, He is God…I the LORD speak the TRUTH, I declare what is RIGHT.” (Isaiah 45:18,19) People who have been saved by Jesus Christ from their sin, are people who have a profound respect for, and hunger for, and seek to understand and live by… God’s Truth!
Now, based on all that, Paul then says “For this reason, since the day we heard about you, 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.” (1:9) Wow! Oh my friends, I wonder what your greatest desire is in the practical living of your daily life? What if it was this… being filled by God with the knowledge of His will for you, through spiritual wisdom and profound understanding of God? What if each day you had the confidence you were exactly in the place, doing exactly the things, which were God’s absolute best for you? That’s what verses 10-12 describe! I invite you to look at them closely my friends, see what Paul says it means to “live a life worthy of the LORD and please Him in every way…” (1:10)
And all of this is possible for us because of what Paul writes in 1:13,14 “For He (God the Father) has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” This is a vitally important God truth, my friends. Every person, everywhere in the world, in every generation, is born into a spiritual kingdom of darkness, because we are born with a sinful human nature. Many Scriptures help us understand the power of the devil influencing our minds, hearts, attitudes, words, choices as well as our world as a whole (2 Corinthians 4:4; 1 John 5:19; Romans 8:5-9) are three of them.
But when we place our full trust in Jesus Christ to save us from our sin bondage, His power defeats Satan’s hold on us (Heb. 2:14,15), and God adopts us into His family (Romans 8:14-17), declares us forgiven of our sin and free from sin condemnation (Romans 5); and brings us into a new relationship with Holy God as citizens of a His Holy Kingdom (Phil. 3:18-21).
Now these few 14 verses of Colossians 1 aren’t very long, so may I urge you to read them two or three times today, slowly, really soaking in the remarkable, powerful truth here. And then asking yourself this simple question…“Do these verses describe me?” If no, what of this is not evident in your life? Why not? Dig deeply…, what do you see and what does God want to help you with? What will you do about that?
If course, as you read these first 14 verses, you feel a wonderful celebration rising up deep within you and you feel like shouting “YES, this is me…thank you Jesus”, then I’d suggest you have a spiritual party! Praise God, thank Him, worship Him, pour out your heart to God in praise and adoration!
Oh Lord Jesus. . .
Click to read today’s chapter: Colossians 1:1-14. (At the top you can choose a different translation.)
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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