Quoted on the hope laid up in heaven and the gospel bearing fruit and increasing in the whole world
5 because of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the Good News,
6 which has come to you; even as it is in all the world and is bearing fruit and growing, as it does in you also, since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth;
Quoted as the glorious petition, praying for knowledge of God's will, worthy walk, fruit, and strength
9 For this cause, we also, since the day we heard this, don’t cease praying and making requests for you, that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
10 that you may walk worthily of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
11 strengthened with all power, according to the might of his glory, for all endurance and perseverance with joy;
12 giving thanks to the Father, who made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light;
Quoted on God qualifying believers for the inheritance, delivering from darkness, and transferring to the kingdom of His Son, in whom we have redemption
12 giving thanks to the Father, who made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light;
13 who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of his love;
14 in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins;
Referenced to support the point that no one is righteous, no not one
1 Then what advantage does the Jew have? Or what is the profit of circumcision?
2 Much in every way! Because first of all, they were entrusted with the revelations of God.
3 For what if some were without faith? Will their lack of faith nullify the faithfulness of God?
4 May it never be! Yes, let God be found true, but every man a liar. As it is written, “That you might be justified in your words, and might prevail when you come into judgment.”
5 But if our unrighteousness commends the righteousness of God, what will we say? Is God unrighteous who inflicts wrath? I speak like men do.
6 May it never be! For then how will God judge the world?
7 For if the truth of God through my lie abounded to his glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner?
8 Why not (as we are slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say), “Let us do evil, that good may come?” Those who say so are justly condemned.
9 What then? Are we better than they? No, in no way. For we previously warned both Jews and Greeks, that they are all under sin.
10 As it is written, “There is no one righteous; no, not one.
11 There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks after God.
12 They have all turned away. They have together become unprofitable. There is no one who does good, no, not so much as one.”
13 “Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have used deceit.” “The poison of vipers is under their lips”;
14 “whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood.
16 Destruction and misery are in their ways.
17 The way of peace, they haven’t known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
19 Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God.
20 Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. For through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
21 But now apart from the law, a righteousness of God has been revealed, being testified by the law and the prophets;
22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all those who believe. For there is no distinction,
23 for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;
24 being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus;
25 whom God sent to be an atoning sacrifice, through faith in his blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness through the passing over of prior sins, in God’s forbearance;
26 to demonstrate his righteousness at this present time; that he might himself be just, and the justifier of him who has faith in Jesus.
27 Where then is the boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.
28 We maintain therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.
29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Isn’t he the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,
30 since indeed there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith, and the uncircumcised through faith.
31 Do we then nullify the law through faith? May it never be! No, we establish the law.
Referenced loosely on abiding and bearing fruit that will last
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer.
2 Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
3 You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
4 Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me.
5 I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
6 If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
7 If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you.
8 “In this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; and so you will be my disciples.
9 Even as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Remain in my love.
10 If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and remain in his love.
11 I have spoken these things to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be made full.
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you.
13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
14 You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you.
15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn’t know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you.
16 You didn’t choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you will ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
17 “I command these things to you, that you may love one another.
18 If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you.
19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his lord.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
21 But all these things will they do to you for my name’s sake, because they don’t know him who sent me.
22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.
23 He who hates me, hates my Father also.
24 If I hadn’t done among them the works which no one else did, they wouldn’t have had sin. But now have they seen and also hated both me and my Father.
25 But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’
26 “When the Counselor has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me.
27 You will also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This was the opening Sunday of First B Jackson's series through Colossians. Pastor Scott walked the congregation through the background of the letter before working through the first fourteen verses, showing why Paul wrote what he wrote and what he wanted the Colossians to hold onto.
What was said
Paul wrote Colossians from Rome during his first imprisonment, at the same time he wrote to Philemon. The letter went to the church at Colossae, a small city in what is now Turkey that sat near Laodicea and Hierapolis along the Lycus River. Colossae was largely destroyed by an earthquake around 61 or 62 AD, which is why the city essentially disappears from the historical record right around the time the letter was written.
The occasion for the letter was a particular mixture of beliefs Paul called a philosophy: local folk religion, a folk version of Judaism, and Christianity had been blended together in ways that undermined confidence in Christ. Some people were turning to magical practices to get God to act on their behalf, others to ascetic self-punishment as a kind of penance. Either way, the result was the same: the sufficiency of Christ was being quietly pushed aside.
Paul's purpose in writing was to assure the Colossians that Christ is completely sufficient, that nothing needs to be added to what He has done. The whole book, Pastor Scott said, circles back to this one point. A gospel that has been mixed with anything else is no longer the gospel. The grace of God is unmerited favor given freely to all who will accept it, and nothing the Colossians could do would add to or subtract from what Christ accomplished.
The opening verses establish this immediately. Paul addresses them as saints and faithful brothers and sisters, recognizing them as Christians before he makes a single argument. He reminds them that the same gospel bearing fruit across the whole world is the one Epaphras brought to them. Their faith did not come from Paul, but he trusts Epaphras and trusts that what the Colossians received was the true, undiluted gospel.
The petition in verses nine through twelve is the prayer Paul has not stopped praying for them since hearing about their faith. He asks that they be filled with the knowledge of God's will, not so they can achieve some higher enlightenment, but so they will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. The strength to do that, Pastor Scott pointed out, does not come from pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. It comes from the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, working within the believer.
God's provision, the final movement of the passage, is stated plainly: God has already qualified believers to share in the inheritance of the saints, has already delivered them from the domain of darkness, and has already transferred them into the kingdom of His Son. All of that is past tense. The forgiveness of sins rests in Christ alone, and that exclusivity, difficult as it is for neighbors and sometimes for believers themselves to sit with, is inseparable from the good news that the gospel is open to all who will believe.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
The pastor described 'primitive religion' as something that gets on all of us, and gave the example of being told sickness means you aren't living right. Where do you see that kind of thinking show up in your own life or in the culture around you?
Paul opens Colossians with 'grace and peace,' and the pastor said he hopes never to lose that instinct, giving people grace before you even know them. What would it look like practically to lead with grace in your everyday relationships this week?
Welcome this morning. Glad that you're here and how about we stand up and sing a couple of songs? Praising God. We are working towards message on Colossians and I think every single one of these songs fits that bill perfectly. Scott, would you come up and help out?
Sound like you're in a canyon.
Yeah. Whoo. Our backup We're mic this morning.
Oh, let's praise and worship. Here we go. There's wonderful power in the blood there is power power wonder working power in the blood of the lamb there is power power wonder working come for a cleansing to Calvary's side there's wonderful power in the blood there is power power wonder working power in the blood of the lamb There is power, power, wonder working power in the precious blood of the lamb. Would you be whiter, much whiter than snow? Power wonder working power in the blood of the lamb there is power power wonder working power in the precious blood of the lamb would you do service for Jesus your king there's power in the blood power in the blood would you live daily his praises to sing there's wonderful power in the blood there is power power wonder working power in the blood the blood of the lamb there is power, power, wonder working power in the precious blood of the lamb.
It's nice having help.
Thank you. Amen.
He keeps me singing. Hymn number seven forty six. Hymn number seven forty six. This is a bright, bright, peppy number.
Bright and peppy this morning. Are y'all bright and peppy? Does that does that match you? There's within my heart a mellow deed Jesus whispers sweet and low fear not I am with thee peace be still in all of life's heaven flow Jesus Jesus Jesus sweetest name I know, fills my every longing, keeps me singing as I go. All my life was wrecked by sin and strife discord filled my life with pain Jesus swept across the broken strings stirring thumbling cords again Jesus Jesus Jesus sweetest name I know fills my every longing keeps me singing as I go feasting on the riches of his grace resting beneath his sheltering wing always looking on his smiling face that is why I shout and sing Jesus Jesus Jesus sweetest name I know fills my every longing keeps me singing as I go though sometimes he leads through waters deep trials fall across my way though sometimes the path seems rough and steep see his footprints all the way Jesus Jesus Jesus sweetest name I know fills my every longing keep me singing as I go amen I hope you're singing in your heart in the midst of the trials that you may be facing.
I know there's a a lot of us that are facing a lot of uphills. Amen. It's a great
song. Amen. And there are five verses in the hymnal. So, Judy and I were prepared to go for another one. There are four on the wall.
Would you have a seat and I will try to announce a couple of things and there are couple of video announcements I think too. So, connect hour happens between services. That's connecting first service and second slightly different styles but the same faith, the same church, and so down the hall in the fellowship hall, we have coffee and donuts and all sorts of goodies down there and it's just good fellowship between. So, that's the connect hour. Monday nights at First B happens at 6PM every Monday night.
It's meal music and a message. Carl is preaching kind of topic by topic through the book of Luke. He's up to chapter six. I had a great message on out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks last Monday night and so he's heading forward from chapter six now. It's great.
It happens at the same time as Awana happens in this room. So, the Awana Kids program is going on in this room at six on Mondays. Prayer on fire. Now, for the last three weeks, I've been calling this church on fire and hoping it wasn't literal. The the more specific focus of this gathering is prayer and so, if you want to be praying and be experiencing God, I think is the best way of putting that.
Don Young who is the interim pastor before I came here or between the times that I came here. Don was is going to be doing leading this prayer on fire weekend. Amy Litzelman is fantastic worship leader. She'll be leading the worship. I think I'll be playing bass with her.
Playing the keys and she is great. Prayer on fire weekend at seven to nine on Friday night, nine to one on Saturday, and we'll have pizza after that for anyone who wish to stay and then Sunday, Don will be preaching both the nine and 11:00 service. This should be great and I encourage all of you to come that that are able. So, alright. February 11, first B Talent Show.
You have no video? No video. Really? But it was so much fun. I'm sorry.
So 2017, if you would like to sing, tap dance, do ciphers and math equations, yo yo, I don't know, impersonations, whatever you would like to do as a talent, we're gonna do the first B Talent Show twenty seventeen will be on February 11. Thank you, Renzi. And Renzi's in charge of that. If you would like to let him know ahead of time what your talent is, you can talk to him and he'll get you kind of signed up so we can bring it into some semblance of order, okay? Ups.
We will take last minute Very good to know. Men's retreat. There is a men's retreat that is happening. Scott, do you have your microphone still? We've got Kyle Knutson's walking forward.
They told me that they were gonna put a slide of me riding a snowmobile up there. They did not.
Are you sure?
Yeah, I'm sure.
Okay. February twenty fourth to the twenty sixth is the men's snowmobile retreat to Island Park. We're gonna be at Old Faithful Christian Ranch. I would love to see all men from this church go because it's such a great time and opportunity for us to build each other up, dive into the word a little, but really just fellowship and play in the snow. It's a $100 that covers meals from Friday night to Sunday morning.
See me about snowmobile rentals. We have an agreement with High Mountain Adventures. There are brochures right outside that back door, and I would love to see you there. So
And the sooner you let him know, the better because he's trying to make a deal on the snowmobiles.
They actually are bringing snowmobiles from Action Sports in Idaho Falls or Ashton or something up to Island Park Forest because I think we'll have enough men to
to need extras. So thank you very much for doing that. Yes. Kyle is kinda in charge of men's fraternity, which meets at 06:00 in the morning every Wednesday morning.
Hey. I'd love to see everybody out there too.
There. That's what I was expecting. Alright. I have a short video about the truth project. Some of y'all have been through this.
I have been through the truth project, and it's fantastic. It goes back to WorldView, but I'll let them do the little two minute advertisement.
You're about to take what could well be the most important tour of your life. It's going to be a worldview tour. We are going to turn and gaze upon the face of God. What should we hear? What should we see?
You are gonna be amazed. Why did Jesus come into the world?
Do you
know who Jesus is? Do you know? From time to time, we're going to bring some experts into the classroom.
The world is reeling with uncertainty. It's almost like it's in the air.
Truth is fundamentally about who God is.
We're challenged to either confront culture, to abandon it, or transform it.
Is our culture filled with lies? This is a battle of worldviews. Do you really believe that what you believe is really real? Evil. What is it?
Where did it come? Why is it in the world?
Who is God?
Who is God? Who is man? What does God say about who man is? What takes us captive? What is incentive?
What is the world's view of work? God is a god of social order.
We're gonna
look at economics, art, media, music, and literature in this sphere of labor. We're gonna look at the area of philosophy and ethics. Everything is about relationships. There is no direction you can travel in which God has not spoken. How do I know I exist?
And if I do exist, why do I exist? If I think I exist, where did that thought come from? We're going to build the final pillar history. We're going to look at the American experiment. Interest.
You. Knew. Fellowship. Love. The God of the universe dwells within me?
Wow.
Alright. That's good. I have been through this whole thing all the different I think it's 12 times that it meets. Is Gary here? Gary key Gary Geek is gonna be facilitating it.
He'll we'll break up into small groups after seeing the video but it's fantastic. I'd recommend this to anybody who wants to and traditionally in the South, it was Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night and here, we don't normally do a Wednesday night service but lately, Gary and Diane have been leading a small group here in the fellowship hall on Wednesday evenings starting at 06:30 and that small group was having such a great time. They decided to make it a bigger group if they could and continue going forward and learning more. So, if you want to be a part of it, 06:30 in the Fellowship Hall on Wednesday night for the Truth Project starting February 8. Alright, for everything else, you could check your bulletin and there's plenty, plenty going on.
You can check that but if you would, stand and greet one another. Judy will start up playing the piano and we'll bring you back together with a song.
Jesus is mine oh what a poor taste of glory divine air of salvation purchase of God born of his spirit washed in his blood this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day long this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day long perfect submission perfect delight visions of rapture now burst on my side angels descending bring from above echoes of mercy whispers of love This is my story, this is my song, praising my savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song, praising my savior all the day long perfect submission all is at rest I and my savior happy and blessed watching and waiting looking above filled with his goodness washed in his love this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day long. This is my story. This is my song praising my savior all the day long.
And one of Judy's favorite, fine too. The three three quarter time with Scott up here and Judy on the piano. Y'all feel free to sway if you want to, okay? We will, we'll probably be skating out of here but what a what a day that will be. Hymn number seven sixty two.
Amen. Y'all can have a seat and I am going to invite the frontline team to come forward And would you pray with me? God, I thank you for this day, for this beautiful, beautiful day that you've made. I I hear the words of those songs that we would be whiter than snow. And lord, we look out and we see whiteness of snow all around us, whiter than that.
And lord, maybe it's the length of this winter or the depth of the snow that's been impressing it upon me, but I'm just thankful lord that you will cleanse us, that you are in the process of cleansing this, that you removed the guilt of sin, and you're breaking the power of that canceled sin. Thank you for that. I thank you for your wonderful provision of Christ, and I thank you for the good news of the gospel. Lord, would you use these tithes and offerings that are being given of free will and acknowledgement that you are the giver of every good and perfect gift, that you are our creator, our lord, our sustainer, and lord, we are acknowledging that by giving but lord, what we want for others to have is this shalom, this peace that you've offered to us. God, would you use this offering to advance your good gospel?
Would you use us in our day to day lives and the words that come out of our mouth that overflow from our heart? Would you use us, Lord, to advance your good gospel? In Jesus name, amen. Thank you, Lori and thank you, Judy for that. That's amazing.
I'm thinking of all the words of that song. Praise for the morning. Praise with elation. Oh, fresh, springing fresh from the word. So, we are going to start into today.
We're going to start into Colossians. Now, we turn the corner from from Philemon and kind of alluded to the fact that Colossians was written at the same time. Philemon was written to an individual at Colossae and then, the book of Colossians was written to the whole church. Maybe the whole church that met at Philemon's house because there was a church in Colossae that met at his house but I want to go through some introductory matters. This is, if you read a commentary, almost always the first chapter of the commentary is introducing you to the book so that you'll get in those questions, the ones that we always ask.
The who, where, when, why, and what exactly. So this is kind of a precursor to the book. If you read Colossians and keep reading it over and over, and I know some of you are because when I talk to you, you're saying, hey, I'm getting ahead of you and I've read Colossians. Read the whole book three or four times and it's so good. Florine will text me from Snow King.
I don't know if he's resting or stopping or what he's doing. He'll climb up Snow King and snowboard down and he'll stop and he'll text and say, oh, this part is so good. Are you listening to it? You're listening to it. This is so great.
There's such assurance here and there's such goodness there. So, the who is the apostle Paul. Now, we've been studying the letters of Paul because we're going in a chronological study. We just got out of Romans. We went into Philemon.
Philemon was written at the same time. The letters were probably delivered by the same people at the same time. So, the where of that oh, and also, I do mention this. Timothy also, it's mentioned in the first verse, the second verse that apostle Paul is writing, but Timothy also. So, the two of them together are writing this to the church at Colossae and there are a lot of Christian scholars that believe that Timothy wrote this book that Paul says, I mean, Paul's a notable name, right?
He's the bigger name and so he says, I'm writing this. Timothy is my true son in the faith. We believe the same thing and then he signs off of Paul has written this. You know, no doubt he wrote it in. I signed off on it but there are some because of minor stylistic differences that say, Timothy probably wrote that.
How they know? I don't know. They think they know it all. I'm not sure, but it is from Paul and Timothy to from Rome. Now, there are people who make a case for other places maybe, but in this time period, the Rome, it was his first Roman imprisonment.
We went through all of the maps a couple of weeks ago about how he got there. But he was writing it from Rome in his first Roman imprisonment. He mentioned several times that he's in chains or he's in prison. It's to Colossae. Now Colossae, if you look up maps, first century maps, you'll see from, you know, a little bit before zero or right BCAD, that switch, you'll see Colossae, Colossae, Colossae.
And then when you get up to about '62, '61, sixty two AD, you don't see anything else about Colossae. Well, Colossae is I'll show you a little map here. So this one, you see Hierapolis, Hierapolis right here is nearby city, but you don't see Colossae on this map. It's a first century map. It's Roman Empire.
And you see a lot of places that we talk about all the time. Macedonia, Corinth, Ephesus is right here. You see Rome and that's where Paul's writing from and you don't see Colossae. Well, Colossae is close by. Hierapolis is a bigger city and you also see Laodicea right nearby.
These three cities were pretty close together from Colossae to Laodicea is about 11 and a half miles around the same side of the Lycus River. Colossae is a little further up the river, I guess, and it is an agricultural zone. Laodicea was a little bit more business, a little bit more not exactly industrial, but it was a little bit more of a business center. Hierapolis also. And it is in what we now is known as Turkey.
If you look on this map, you see that they were calling this Phrygia at the time. Phrygia when Paul spent time in Phrygia and Galatia. That's Phrygia right there. We don't know. It's never said that Paul went to Colossi.
We don't know that he did. Now, did ask in Philemon that Philemon get a room ready for him but he was in prison when he said it and we don't have a record of him going. We do know that Paul did not plant the church at Colossi though because he tells us that Epaphras did. He tells us that that's where they had first received the gospel. So this is the map, but after about '61 or '62, we don't hear anything else about Colossae because this is an earthquake zone.
And I talked to some folks in the first service who lived in Turkey for several years and they said, yeah, we've been to Hierapolis and we've seen the earthquake damage because they've had earthquakes since then. Colosse was basically destroyed, most people believe, in about '61 or '62. So we don't hear anything after that. But Laodicea and Hierapolis did rebuild. There were bigger cities, more people.
So that's a little bit about what it is. Hierapolis is on the other side of the river, Colossae is on the same side, 11 and a half and 12 and a half miles away. So sixty one, sixty two AD, same time as Philemon, delivered on the same trip. The what of this book is the sufficiency of Christ. Every chapter, but the whole of the book, if you take it as a whole, is about the sufficiency of Christ.
He is God's chosen one. There's none other like him and he is completely and totally sufficient to accomplish redemption for all who believe. The sufficiency of Christ. Now, the why question in most commentaries and the most seminary classes, they do the why this way. It's occasion and purpose.
Why did he send it? Well, because the circumstances of that place at that time were this and then the purpose was he wanted to assure them of this or so we'll get into occasion and purpose right here. And I stole these directly from the class notes from William J. Larkin's class, Acts to Revelation. I'm giving you the exact test answer if you want to scribble it down.
The Colossian philosophy and Paul calls it a philosophy. Paul didn't use the word philosophy very often and that's one of the reasons why some people think Timothy scribbled this book down. I disagree but the Colossian philosophy is a combination of Phreesian local folk belief, kind of primitive religion in that area, a local version of folk Judaism, and Christianity. So Christianity had been introduced and definitely had made an impact because there was a church there. He calls them believers from very early on.
He says that you've accepted this gospel and you are brothers and sisters in Christ. So there's a local folk belief, local folk Judaism, and Christianity kind of mixed together. Does that sound common? Pluralism. There are existing world views in the same location.
We see that every day all the time here. Called into question the sufficiency of Christ. Do the competing world views here call into question the sufficiency of Christ? Absolutely, they do. They those particular ones called into question the sufficiency of Christ to combat hostile spiritual powers.
In our day, a lot of them just deny that there is a spiritual realm at all. And there are twin errors to believe too much in the spiritual realm or to not believe in it at all. To combat the hostile spiritual powers, he mentions that, which were thought to control your personal destiny. So in that area, they did believe in fate that you couldn't change your stars, that what was gonna happen was gonna happen to you. But it also pointed them to magic or either ascetic practices.
So the magic part is, I'm going to do this, whatever this spell is, so that God will be required to do something to help me. I'm gonna twist God's arm or the God's arms. Or because they felt, yes, there was such a notion of sin and there was such a notion as wrong, they felt like they had to practice ascetic practices, which is like going without a blanket when it's cold. Martin Luther did that. He went without a blanket when it was cold.
It was an ascetic practice to punish himself in an act of penance for the wrong that he had done. Well, if there's an all sufficient Christ who has paid the price to redeem, then ascetic practices really should go out the window. Ascetic practices, ascetic practices for their protection. So do you think that you believe any primitive religion? The the first service was dead still just like you all are right now.
So I think that we do. I think that we have kind primitive religion is really sticky and it gets on all of us. I I have had pneumonia, you all know that for several weeks I had it. I'm better, doing better now. But I mentioned it to my dad.
My dad says, boy, you ain't living right. Like, the way that I live each day, if I'd if I would just do better, then I would feel better. And that's not true. The prosperity gospel points towards well, it points towards twisting God's arm and getting what you want for one thing, but the magic or the ascetic practices, that's the occasion. That's what they were believing.
That's what they were up against. I think that that's what we're up against. We're up against a bunch of different competing worldviews that say, you should do this or you should do that or you should just shun that completely, belief in Jesus is stupid. We get that from people. The local folk Judaism said that we are of the line of Abraham and you are not, and you will not get in no matter what you do, what you believe.
They understood in real Judaism, you understand that there is an all sufficient Christ. There is an all sufficient Messiah that is coming but they just didn't recognize him when he came and so this folk version was like, you're excluded and you can't change that no matter what you believe. The purpose then for what Paul had been writing, he wrote to assure them of Christ's supremacy and salvation particularly and he mentions that in all those verses right there to warn them against syncretism. If you don't know what syncretism is, it's when you take, let's say, Christianity and you adopt other things from other world views and you bring them in and you make them make it a part of your brand of Christianity. Well, the gospel plus anything is not the gospel.
The gospel is the grace of God, unmerited favor of God given freely for everyone who will accept it. So, Paul goes on to show them the superiority of pro mortification. That is the pro mortification is shunning scent, putting off the things that so easily entangle us and ensnare us versus the ascetic way in Christian conduct. So asceticism has come and gone and come and gone and come and gone and come and gone in Christian circles for a long long time. In other religions, it's what the religion is based on in a lot of cases.
You've seen the people that take a whip and flagellate or beat themselves on the back or crawl on their knees up the Spanish steps or crawl to the top of any one of these mountains around here and put down a little trinket or two to twist God's arm into doing what they want him to do. Climbing a mountain is a asceticism to me. I've done it. I ain't going to do it again. Sorry.
But if you all feel good about it, y'all go right ahead. That's where you meet God. No, no. My mountain climbing experience was like the drinker's prayer. I said, lord, if you will get me off this mountain, I will never do it again.
I promise. So, Colossians one to 14 is what we'll cover today. It's grace and peace to begin with. A grateful prayer. I don't know why baptist sermons always have to be alliterated.
This one happened to be in twos. Grace and peace. A grateful prayer, a glorious petition, and God's provision. And next week, we'll come back and we'll probably start verse nine and go forward from there. We're going to keep a wet edge.
We'll double up a little bit. It's a short book but it's so powerful and so good. So here we go. Grace and peace. Colossians one one and two says this, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.
He doesn't deserve it. He's admitting that upfront. I have been sent out. Apostle is a sent one. Paul, an apostle sent out by Christ Jesus by the will of God and Timothy, our brother, so not just my brother but yours too.
I'm recognizing that you're Christians before we even start. To the saints, the holy ones, and the faithful brothers and sisters, brothers can mean brothers, it can mean brothers and sisters, nothing limits it to just brothers right here. The saints and the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ at Colossi. Grace to you and peace from God our father. Amen.
So, grace is what? Can y'all tell me? What's grace? Short definition. Unmerited favor.
I hope I mention that in every sermon forever. Grace is God's unmerited favor. None of us deserves it. We've read Romans three. We've read Romans and we see that no one is righteous.
No, not one. We understand that from the Old Testament. We understand that from last week's sermon on Obadiah that there's impending judgment for the enemies of God and everyone starts off as an enemy of God. Grace to you, unmerited favor towards you, and peace and that is directly from God, our father. Again, he says, our and our there meaning, we are your brothers and sisters in Christ and so he's writing to Christians.
Now, that's something that non Christians can get a lot of this book if they're looking for God and they're studying Colossians, they'll get it. They'll get him. They'll understand. There's a grateful prayer right here and Paul's very grateful prayer starts off like this. We always, always thank God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you.
Ever since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints, that looks a lot like Philemon. Your memory says, Philemon, I've heard about the love that you have for all of the saints and that apparently was what Colossi was known for. Paul had never been there and he but he knew Epaphras and he was telling him and he said, this is what they're known for. I pray that we're known for being a loving and a warm and receptive church that that brings people in. New folks and I see some new folks.
I see y'all out there. Welcome. Glad you're here. Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints. Because of the hope that's laid up for you in heaven.
Now, he's combating this already he's starting to lay the foundation and the groundwork. He's combating this error that people are saying, why would you believe that? Now today in our what was a first century Jew have to do with you? Why does that matter? That is so silly and so superstitious or crazy for you to believe that.
Or if you were in that first century Judaism and you said, we have the old testament. Have you read it? Our understanding says that this guy is going to be a military ruler. He's going throw off Rome. Our understanding says this, our understanding it's all our understanding though.
When you look back after knowing Christ, you look back and
go, oh, wow.
Because of the hope that's laid up for you in heaven, he's not ashamed of it. A lot of Christians today when you're talking to folks at work and they go, this is all there is. I mean, why even think that? Why do you why would you live like that? That's crazy.
It's just stupid. You ought to be good because goodness is good. Where does that come from? Truth Project helps out with a lot of that too, by the way. Because of the hope that's laid up for you in heaven, he's not ashamed of that.
He starts off and looking forward to that blessed hope is important because here, things are not always good. Do you agree? Have you been through it? We've all been through it. They were going through it.
Some jabs from their neighbors. Because of the hope that's laid up for you in heaven and of this, you've heard before in the word of truth, the gospel. You've heard this before as it it goes on to say, the word of truth, the gospel, the good news of Jesus. His perfect life, well lived, caring for other people, never sinning, not selfish, humble, and obedient, humble and obedient even to the point of a cross. So living a perfect life, having no sin on his account, he was able to go to a sacrificial death in humble obedience on the cross and he was resurrected.
And he did all of that so that anyone who would believe would have life in him. Would be imputed with his righteousness. For those who believe, they would get the very righteousness of God. The word of truth, the gospel, and that's what it is. Which has come to you.
It came to you as indeed in the whole world. It's bearing its fruit and it's increasing. Now, it is still increasing. Now, it may not be increasing in The United States Of America right now, but it is increasing. It's increasing in South America.
It's increasing in Africa, in Asia, like crazy. It's increasing in most of the rest of the world. We fit in very well with the writing to the Colossians. What Paul is writing them to assure them of the truth that they have accepted is very helpful for us because we need to be reminded and we need to be instruct instructed and strengthened in our resolve. So the whole world is bearing fruit and it's increasing as it also does among you.
Since the very day that you heard it and understood the grace of God and it is by his grace, his unmerited favor and it's in truth. That's the way that it is. So I like my timeline slide. I've used it for a long long time now. I think we started it in first Thessalonians two, I think is where we came up with this.
Based it straight off of the verse there. God chose from the beginning how his plan would go for those who fail. Now Adam and Eve fall in the garden and every single one of us by nature and by nurture. Since then, God chose from the beginning that Christ would do the work. In his perfect life and his sacrificial death, burial, and in his triumphant resurrection, He would accomplish all that was necessary.
For the salvation of anyone who would believe. Now, the gospel witness started going out and going forth. At that time and it has been going forth for two thousand years now. So, the gospel witness in their case in Colossae was shared by Epaphras. I don't know who it was in your case.
I know a couple of you. It was Billy Graham. I don't know who it was that presented the gospel to you to begin with, whether it was your parents or your preacher or some random person you barely knew. I don't know. But the gospel witness is true and at the moment that you believe, you are saved.
Now, Paul often gets into the already and the not yet. You're already saved. Yes. But you're not already glorified. You're not already perfected.
Oh, wouldn't it be great that if immediately upon salvation, you had the power to act out the righteousness of God and you did and you just were perfected at that moment but it requires a shift of the will. Your volition at belief. When you say Jesus, you are the Lord, you are surrendering your will to the will of God and the sanctification that happens is the work of the Holy Spirit. As you surrender your will to God, he will sanctify you. And ultimately, whether it's on the day of your death or on the day of the Lord, we are ultimately saved.
The already and the not yet. We're in between the already and the not yet. Glorification later. These folks had already believed and they were in this process of sanctification and sometimes that's tested by fire, by the folks around you, by your circumstances, by your own doubts and wavering. So this is the way sanctification generally goes.
It is an upward trajectory. It has some hills and valleys and as these folks understood about the truth of Christ and salvation that they had, they started to grow in him but their neighbors around them started causing them to doubt. So you can see this phenomenon. When you start to doubt, you start to question what it is that you have known to be true, put your trust in, your walk suffers and your resolve suffers and your sanctification starts to slip. Backsliding is what they call this in Southern Baptist churches.
Just as you learned it from Epaphras, go back to what you knew. Just as you learned it from Epaphras, it's the grace of God. It's not how many times you have beaten yourself today. It's not the little magical things that you do. Just as you learned it from Epaphras, it's the grace of God and truth.
Epaphras is our beloved fellow servant. I love that Paul recognizes that they receive the gospel from somebody else. He does say elsewhere that I like to build where no one else has laid the foundation But he trusts Epaphras and he trusts that they had accepted the true and undiluted gospel of Jesus. You learn it from him. He's a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf.
I love it that he recognizes that and he has made known to us your love in the spirit. So, he offered this to you and he recognized that you received it and he's telling us about the love you have for all of the saints too in the spirit. We're one in the spirit. That's a very from this great exalted apostle to feel a camaraderie, a oneness with them. It happens in the spirit.
Now, this is what he wants for them to to kind of arrest that slide right there and put their faith in Christ and begin to grow and have their blessed assurance in him. So, the glorious petition. This is what Paul is asking for and I've heard mothers and fathers and grandmothers and grandfathers say, oh, I'm praying Colossians one over my family and I think it's a good prayer. It's a really, really good prayer. This petition, it looks like this from nine to about twelve.
And so, from that very day that we heard of you, we have not ceased to pray for you. Asking, that's the petition. Asking that you may be filled with all the knowledge of his will, that's a pretty good prayer because you don't know it. Right? You don't know what the will of God is.
How many of wonder what the will of God is for your life? Yeah. Well, I can answer it from Thessalonians. It says, the will of God for your life is your sanctification. It does say that you'd abstain from sexual immorality too, but I like the sanctification part because so many people wonder about and say, oh, should I do this?
Should I marry this person? Should I start this job? It's the will of God. It can't be known. Oh, how am I going to know it?
Well, if I just do this ascetic practice, maybe no. His his will for you is your sanctification that you become closer and closer to him and you understand the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding that pride would diminish, that humility would increase. And then it talks just not just about what you know, knowledge, and all spiritual wisdom and understanding but so as to walk in a manner that's worthy. Not that you just know it but then that you begin to surrender your will and do it. So as to walk in a manner that's worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, and bearing fruit in every good work.
Romans towards the end says, knowing this that nothing that you have done in labor for the Lord is in vain. Bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge. That knowledge is very important because you're increasing in the knowledge and you're being filled with the knowledge and it's having its application in your life. Being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for all endurance and patience with joy. I love that.
That is that glorious petition. And so here it is laid out all in one slide, being filled with the knowledge of his will. Amen. The knowledge of God's will for your life. There's a there's a lot of confidence that comes from knowing that what you're doing, you're doing because you are in the will of God.
In all spiritual wisdom and understanding, that's not something to boast about. It's something that's a gift that's given to you. It's not something that you have achieved this greater enlightenment. To walk in a manner that's worthy of the Lord. Being fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work.
If you abide, then you will bear fruit and it will be fruit that will last, Jesus says in John. Increasing in the knowledge of God. So you're being filled with it and that you're increasing. There is an upward trajectory to what you know and that has an effect on what you do. Being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might.
Now lots of other religions and lots of other philosophies, as Paul calls it to the Colossians, are bootstrap philosophies. You can do this because you have it. You can do it. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps, But this says that it is according to his glorious might. Because of what Christ has done, you can be strengthened with all power.
The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is the power that's at work within you. For all endurance and patience, endurance and patience don't sound fun but joy does. Endurance and patience with joy knowing that he is the one that's doing the work in you and that he is the one that's sanctifying. So, we've gone through the first three. Grace and peace, always start with grace and peace.
I pray I don't ever reject that notion. Always start with grace and peace when people come to you. Give the unmerited favor. You don't even know em. Give them the benefit of grace to begin with.
Grateful prayer, glorious petition, and now God's provision. All of this is based on and the book is about the sufficiency of Christ. So, we see God providing actually. Actually, this is kind of a grateful prayer too, but giving thanks. We're always petitioning this, but we're giving thanks to the father who has qualified.
That is in the past. He has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. Not because you deserve it, but because of his grace. He's qualified you and that has already happened. And you can rest in this blessed assurance to share an inheritance of the saints in light.
He has delivered us. God's provision. God is the one who delivered us. Past tense? From the domain of darkness and he has transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved son.
Now, all those people are saying, you're crazy to believe that. You put your trust in him, that's ridiculous. You gotta do this too, obviously. We're surrounded by there's a cultural milieu right here that says that Christ is important. It's not nearly as important as what you do.
He can make up the what you can't do. He makes it up all. None of us deserve it. It's completely by his grace. He's delivered us from the domain of darkness, transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son, and that he is God almighty.
The kingdom of his beloved son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Now, the all sufficiency of Christ is what he's writing to assure them and it it brings up a question that is the most difficult thing in our day for our neighbors and people in the world really to accept is the exclusivity of the gospel. That the gospel necessarily excludes those who do not believe. People who have spent much time around people of other faiths say, I just can't believe that a God who loves would x y z to those people who don't believe. They don't even know.
Well, we've been given a charge to tell them. The truth is the truth. You can't have parallel truths that contradict each other. There is an exclusivity to the gospel that we must admit, but there's an inclusive gospel. It is for all who will believe.
From the time you have heard it, Paul says, they heard it and they accepted it. There may have been some in Colossians that just rejected it out of hand. The proclamation of the gospel is very very important and the acceptance of it is the difference in heaven and hell, light and darkness, sin, and righteousness. For us to boast in our own good works is taking credit for something that only God can do. So in him, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
This book is about Jesus. This letter is about the all sufficiency of Christ. The exclusivity is difficult for our neighbors to understand. It's difficult for us to understand. I would rather there be some other way that we could, as Jude said, snatch people from the fire, but this is the truth.
This is the good news of the gospel. So as we go forward in Colossians, well, like I said, we'll probably drop back to verse nine next week and go through from there, go further. Would you pray with me that we would model our behavior after that of Christ with the strength that God provides. Now, if you know somebody and you want to pray through that nine through 12, that they would increase in the knowledge, that they would walk in a manner worthy. It's for his glory, not yours, not mine.
God's provision is Jesus Christ. His perfect life, sacrificial death, and his great offer of the righteousness of God. So Judy, would you come on back up? And, Laurie, would you go come on back up? And we are gonna try to sing God be with you till we meet again.
And if any of y'all were singing in the choir here umpteen years ago when Earl was directing, this was Earl O'Jay's Funeral Was Yesterday, and we we attempted this song, and we did great till the last line. Would you all stand with us as we attempt it again? Scott, sing loud on the last line. I have never heard this song before, but I'm going to lead it. Yep.
So here we go. It's a lot of work on you today.
Yeah. Start again.
Start again. We messed up the end yesterday. We messed up the beginning of the day. Too bad. Here we go.
Sing loud, Judy.
God be with you till
we meet again his counsels guide uphold you with his sheep securely fold you God be with you till we meet God be with you till we meet again. Need his wings protecting hide you. Daily manners still provide you God be with you till we meet again till we meet till we meet we meet at Jesus' feet till we meet till we meet God be with you till we meet
again Amen. And from Colossians three twelve through 14, it's a mouthful but it's well worth it. Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, and bear with each other and forgive one another. If any of you has a grievance against someone, forgive as the Lord forgave you, and over all these virtues, on love which binds them all together in perfect unity. Amen.
