Sermon Tone Analysis

Colossians 1:1-23

Walk worthy of the Lord…that seemed like a good working title.

It is what is printed in your bulletins, But, he more I say it, the more unattainable it feels.

Understand when I chose it, I had been examining, really immersing myself in the prayer Paul prayed for these guys, and part of that prayer is found in verse 10 Col 1:10

That is a cool prayer, and it is my prayer for you and for me, but I thought as a title, it was a little intimidating, and also gave a sense of being able to walk worthy of the Lord as in I deserve or have earned what I have received from God.

So, new title, something way easier for us, not to lower the bar too much, but I have changed the title to

Colossians 1:1-23

Much easier task ahead of us this morning, I hope you are all now much more comfortable.

Just so I know that we’re communicating and on the same page…how many of you in our audience this morning have ever asked either of these two questions, “How do I know God’s will for my life, or… How do I know God’s will for this decision I have to make?

OK, the majority of you have asked the question, I’m confident that if you’ve asked the question, you all know the answer, so this should be an easy passage for us to go through, and Growth Group homework should be a breeze.

Let’s pray…and lets pray for the brand new Christian, or maybe the folks that are joining us on line that don’t know the will of God in every little nook and cranny of their lives...

Pray....

I’m glad Pastor Jim is in the book of Philippians at the same time we are in Colossians, not just because he covered all the hard parts about the theology concerning the Preeminence of Christ that I was going to talk about today, but because the two letters are written to two very different audiences.

The city of Philippi was a Roman colony, in many ways it was considered a miniature of Rome, very culturally advanced, especially in comparison to the other ancient city around it.

Paul planted the church there, spent time there, we know of at least two confirmed visits there and there were probably more.

The Letter that we are beginning this morning was written to the church of Jesus Christ in Colossae, to a church that Paul did not plant, and we find out latter in the letter that Paul had never even been to.

And if you turn to your maps in your bible, if you have some of Paul’s missionary journey’s, or maybe a big blown up one of Asia Minor, you probably won’t see the city of Colossae.

If you look on the map at what is now modern day Turkey, there is a section of the land on those Bible maps called, fri·jee·uh, Spelled Phrygia.

What I love about that, is that this little church mattered to Paul, and more significantly, mattered to God so much so that the letter has been retained in Scripture throughout the ages.

Thee most super simple outline I can give to the book is that the first two chapters cover doctrine, and the last two, chapters 3 and 4 are all about practical living in light of that doctrine.

Pastor Jim talked some about the theology and deity of Jesus Christ.

God becoming man or what theologians call the incarnation.

What we need to understand is that in the incarnation, there is no loss of deity, only the addition of humanity.

In the incarnation, there is no loss of deity, only the addition of humanity.

Jesus was no less God when He walked on the earth.

100 Percent God, and 100 Percent man.

You say, your math doesn’t add up pastor, and I say I know.

I know the truth of what God said and did, I don’t know how He did it other than He is God.

So, Pastor Jim also talked about something called the Kenosis.

Or the “self-emptying” of Jesus, or probably better described as his setting aside his heavenly privileges like veiling His glory, it’s different than setting aside His deity or His Godliness, Jesus did not do that.

Always remember Biblical theology tells us that in the incarnation there was no loss of deity, only the addition of humanity.

Philippians emphasizes the Kenosis, or the self-emptying of Jesus to come and be the servant King to mankind.

Colossians emphasizes what theologians call the Plee-Rome-a (Pleroma) Meaning that in Jesus we have the totality and fullness of the Godhead in Jesus Christ.

In chapter 2:9 we read…Col 2:9

For for a tiny little letter, to a tiny little church that Paul never even went to, there is some huge theology here.

Rather than get bogged down in it for our Sunday morning Studies, we will hit the issues as they come, why we try to emphasis what it means for us today.

One other thing of importance to mention is what some of you may have heard referred to as the Colossian Heresy.

There is all kinds of speculation on what exactly that was.

Many say it was Gnosticism.

I won’t go into detail on what that was, but think of it as a separation of flesh and spirit.

The flesh is bad and the spirit is good, the flesh is separate from the spirit, so it doesn’t matter what evil you do in the flesh, it is inconsequential in the spirit world.

It is a lie from Hell.

Some put a twist on it in a form called Christian Gnosticism, it is just a bigger and more deceptive lie from Hell.

Truthfully, we really have no idea what the deal was in Colossae, we know there was some theology that was messed up, probably some form of mysticism, and or legalistic Judaism trying to be blended with Christianity, all we have here is the solution, not the problem.

The Apostle Paul thought it serious enough to address and clarify Christian doctrine, so that is what we have here.

So, beginning in verse one with Paul’s greeting to the church.

Col 1:1-2

Paul, never having been to this church begins with giving the authority under which he writes, he is an apostle of Jesus Christ, not by election of man, but by the will of God, and Timothy, a young Pastor they had probably met or were familiar with as it is likely that Timothy had visited the church.

To the Saints and faithful brethren, grace and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ…as an apostle, Paul is a spokesman for God and give a greeting from God.

Leading us into verse 3…Col 1:3

Now, again, I don’t want to get buried in the weeds here, but when you consider the theology of this letter and the issue that may have been at hand, Paul is dropping a sledge hammer that could easily be missed here in that he is giving thanks for them directly to God the Father, the Gnostics didn’t believe that you could address God the Father directly, so as he’s greeting them, he’s also tweaking some of them a little bit, doing this as an apostle by the will of God.

But notice how much this little church matters to Paul, he doesn’t just say, hey I heard things were a little bit of a mess over there.

He says, we give thanks for you and we are praying for you always.

Why is Paul so thankful for this little church he has never been to?

Look at verse 4 with me.

Col 1:4-8

Colossians 1:4–8 (NKJV)

4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints;

5 because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel,

6 which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth;

7 as you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf,

8 who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.

Your faith in Christ Jesus, a genuine faith in Jesus should result in a genuine love for all the saints.

Now in verse 9 we come to what I want to focus on for us today.

Paul begins to tell them about his prayers for them…Col 1:9

He says we do not cease to pray for you and ask that you won’t need the armor of God to stand in the battle....I don’t cease to pray for you that you won’t have any problems, any ailments, and all elections would go exactly as you want them to.

No, Paul asks God that they may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding!

In verse 10 Paul tells them why?

Or he begins explains to them if they can know God’s will experientially, and walk in His will, then there are four things that they can expect to see in their lives.

The first one, verse 10 Col 1:10

That you may walk worthy of the Lord, pleasing Him in every way.

If I am a follower of the Lord, shouldn’t that be the goal?

That someday when we are face to face with Him we hear Him say, this is my son, or this is my daughter in whom I am well pleased?

Well done good and faithful servant?

That’s what I want to hear!

Then the second part of this verse, says, that we would be fruitful in every good work.

That good stuff would happen because Jesus saved you.

That our lives will have mattered, that fruit will have been established.

That the Kingdom of God will have grown, and be blessed, because of the work that we do as a result of knowing the will of God and walking in it.

The last part of our verse increasing or growing in the knowledge of God.

See there is a cyclical component to this…the more I walk in God’s will, the more I know God and His will.

I know it sounds like I got the cart before the horse there, but ask God reveals His will to us, and we then walk in it or obey it, do what He is telling us to do, then the next step comes.

When God reveals a little bit of His will to us, and we don’t move, or don’t do because we want to know the plan from beginning to end, He often times doesn’t give us the next play.

Why would He, when we haven’t obeyed what he has given to us.

I used an example of a parent and a child a few weeks ago, where the child continued to violate curfew over and over again and then is asking the parent where they should take the car tonight, to a party down at the beach that will go late, or to an after hours concert in across the state line…the answer is what car, you aren’t getting any car…in the same why would God continue to reveal His will when we have ignored what He has already given us.

For example 1 Thes 4:3

You don’t abstain from sexual immorality in all of it’s various forms, why would you expect God to reveal more of His will to you?

So the Key to knowing God’s will is walking in what He has already revealed to us, particularly in His Word, and obeying it, or walking in it.

I know that might sound simple.

But the secret to knowing God, is not studying theology, or and listen to all of what I say, before you flip out by what I say.

The secret to knowing God is knowing His will and walking in it, and in that often through His Word, He reveals more and more of Himself to us.

It is not just in becoming a Bible Scholar.

I’m a fan of studying the Bible, I’m working on a Masters Degree in Biblical Studies and theology, but you need to know that there have been several Bible scholars that know all kinds of things about the Bible, but they wouldn’t know God, from a hole in the wall.

The key to knowing God is knowing His will and walking in it, and as we do, He reveals more and more of Himself to us.

I said there was four, again

That they would walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him.

2. That we would be Fruitful in every good work.

3.

That we would be increasing in the knowledge of God.

Verse 11… Col 1:11

That we would be strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy.