Colossians #1: Reputation of Hope
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Colossians 1:1-8
Colossians 1:1-8
I’m in our berry patch today because I think berries are a good illustration of what’s going on in our text today. You heard G read it a moment ago… and can I say great job. For such a little guy, you read fantastic. Way to go!
Black berries are a primocane bramble, this means they fruit on last years growth. I mean, this summer, they will grow shoots out of the ground… those shoots will lose their leaves this fall and go dormant over the winter. Then next year in March, they will come to life and begin to flower then in June and July they will begin to produce great big super sweet black berries.
It takes some time. Along the way, they can get diseases, or pests can damage them. All sorts of things can cause them to fail to produce a crop.
The pests we can see. Even the disease, if you know what to look for, is pretty easy to diagnose.
What’s hard to diagnose are the effects of an imbalance in the nutrients the plant takes in from the soil. You can’t see them, they are hard to measure, and their right combination can be subtle, but it can have a huge impact on the crop.
Today we begin a study of a small letter in the NT, Paul’s letter to the church in Colossea, we call it Colossians.
Paul knew the danger for the church in Colossians was just dangerous and hard to recognize as an imbalance in nutrients for these plants.
You may not remember who Paul was. The book of Acts describes him as a part of the Jewish ruling Sanhedrin… a pharisee of pharisees… he was charged with persecuting the church, but through a very dramatic conversion experience, he met Jesus and it changed his life.
From that moment on, he began to live as a missionary for Jesus… not persecuting the church but starting new ones, encouraging existing ones, helping ones that were struggling, by teaching the church the truth of Jesus… who he - Paul - had persecuted, witnessed murdered on a cross, then met alive on a roadside.
When Paul met Jesus, his life changed and Paul never looked back.
We see this in his letter of Colossians. He describes himself in verse 1 as an Apostle. An apostle different from a disciple. A disciple is a student, a follower. An apostle was one who had been sent. He was sent by Jesus.
An apostle:
Think about it, he had never met these people in Colossea, but he cared for them because that was his mission… to build up the church.
Even in prison, he didn’t stop. Colossians you see is one of Paul’s prison letters.
He was sequestered away because he kept teaching and preaching about Jesus… but being isolated in prison wouldn’t stop him. In fact Paul saw it as an opportunity to teach, to equip the church.
This makes me think what we could be doing during our isolation… our stay at home orders. Instead of watching more Netflix maybe there is a ministry you could develop that would be an encouragement to others or a help to the church.
I’ve heard of some of you making masks to give to those in need of them.
I have been amazed at the interest in people wanting to get involved in our food ministry.
For Paul, isolation wasn’t the end of his ministry, it was just meant a chance to do something different. It can be the same today; how is God leading you during this season of “stay at home” to be an ambassador for Christ.
Paul was compelled to encourage the church in Colossea.
Why did they need encouragement? What was happening there?
Epaphras probably told Paul at Rome about the problems in this Colossian church and thus encouraged him to write this letter of reprimand.
There struggle:
In Colossea or in Christ
In Colossea or in Christ
It’s what we talked about last week from John 17… Jesus’s prayer for us to be in the world but not of the world. They were being tempted to become more of the world… to add the cultural practices of Colossea to their faith in Christ.
Paul was asking:
Was Jesus enough?
Was Jesus enough?
They were a fairly new church and like any of us; when we were new Christians, we weren’t threatened by atheism or Judaism or Buddhism… we had move past those things. The real threat to our faith is subtle changes that people adopt over time, blending cultural realities with that of the church.
It’s called syncretism, and it’s very subtle.
CHICHI - syncretism … blending the beliefs of culture with that of Jesus.
I stood there looking at those altars and said to myself… there’s no way we would do that… but yet we do.
Obscurantism:
There are two major ways we err in the church.. one is obscurantism… that is majoring on the minors. Legalism. I grew up in a church that taught that since the NT church didn’t have musical instruments, it was wrong to have instruments in church and if you did well you weren’t a real church. There are denominations that think they are the only true church because they believe this way or that. there are conservative churches that say rules are good, so let’s make more rules. Paul wrote to churches like that in Galatians to remind them of the grace of God in Christ. We can get so caught up in the minutia of our theology that people are actually repelled by it rather than attracted to it… that’s a problem.
Syncretism:
Then there is the other side… syncretism. This is adapting the beliefs of our culture to our faith. at it’s best it’s contextualizing… but if we take it too far, our contextualization can become something besides Christianity.
Many churches today struggle with this; adapting the values of our culture and blessing them as Christian. Some say if love is good, well you can love anyone you want any you want… and if you disagree with us… you aren’t a real church. Real Christians are republicans… or if you love like Jesus you have to be a democrat… sing hymns because that’s the way we do it… sing modern music because it’s relevant to our culture.
In Colossians, just like the church today, the threat to faith in Jesus wasn’t really disbelief, it was our tendency to add to it to make it something besides Christianity. That’s what happens when we say it’s Jesus… plus
Jesus… plus…anything is not Christianity
Jesus… plus…anything is not Christianity
Because of this, we will see Paul write about some very particular ideas in this letter.
He’s going to write about Fullness… because he knew Jesus is enough.
We will read Paul write a lot about freedom… because there are teachers seeking to bind us to rules of holiness
We also read Paul write of unity… as the people are being taught that their are Christians and “real” Christians… those who are really devout. Forgive me for ever offering such an idea.
Paul’s going to connect our hope, faith, and love to our relationships, our work, our families.
There is a lot in this letter that applies to us as Christians in 2020. To say i’m excited about it is an understatement.
I have been in touch with a great church down in North Carolina and they have given us a resource to use to help us study God’s word as we go through this series. The study questions are in the notes here, but you can access the whole book on our website. Just go to the blog and it will be there under the Study tab; just look for the Jesus is Enough article.
Here at the start, Paul is writing to the church, we see that in verse 2, God’s holy people… God’s set apart people. Set apart by God and are faithful to the Gospel.
But make no mistake, Paul is writing to fix things. To correct wrong thinking and stop wrong behavior before it gets started.
That’s the easiest time to fix a problem, before it has a chance to take root. it’s like my garden over there, there have been many years when we let the weeds get carried away. Then we go in to try to clean them up and just give up because it’s too difficult. But if we went in early and hoed them when the weeds were young it would have been easy. Paul is coming in early to hoe the garden… to stop the problem before it become s a problem.
Often times all we see is the negative. When someone has criticism for me, my fist instinct is always to see it as bad as I can. In fact I even tend to make it worse than they intended it. I blow it out of proportion.
So, Paul starts exactly where you should whenever you are going to try to correct someone’s behavior… start with what’s going right, and there are some great things going on in Colossea.
He lets them know what when he pray’s for them, he thanks God for them. He has heard, most likely from his friend and their mentor Epaphras, of their faith in Jesus and their love for people.
What a reputation…your faith in Christ Jesus...
What a reputation…your faith in Christ Jesus...
- the word pistise tells us it is more than just believing that they have been told about Jesus. Faith you see is relying on his promises; having confidence that he is alive, depending on his power for life.
Faith is far more than believing.
It’s like planting the seed. Trusting that what I’ve been told, what I have seen - I can trust that it’s going to happen again. I have faith that the seeds I plant this year are going to sprout and come to life so when I plant them, I take care of them because they will produce a crop.
This good news about Jesus changed they way they approached life.
They began to love one another
What a reputation…your Love for all of God’s people...
What a reputation…your Love for all of God’s people...
The Colossians have a reputation. A reputation of living their lives as the church… loving Jesus and loving their neighbors.
Sort of the way you have been calling each other, checking in on each other. Some of you don’t even know the people you are calling, you just know they are a part of your church so you want to check in on them… that’s awesome.
Some of you have been make masks to give to people who need them.
Some of you deliver food to people in need.
Some of you who have means, give financially to support these efforts. That’s a sign of your love for one another.
Hope - Faith - Love
Hope - Faith - Love
For you and for the church in Colossea, this faith and love flow out of their confident hope… Hope that’s not a wishful thinking… but hope as an expectation.
Let me say right here that if you struggle with loving … if you struggle with reorienting your life around the truths of scripture… it’s probably connected to HOPE deficit.
That you have heard the news of Jesus, but you aren't convinced. You can’t bring yourself to surrender to it, to put confidence in it. I’ll tell you if you can’t put confidence in it, all religion becomes a burden. There is no joy in it if you have no confidence in the Good News.
The Colossians had that joy… they heard the good news, and believed it… leading to trusting , depending, relying faith… which produced a change in their lives… a change to love, forgive, support, help, encourage, care for one another.
You will see this pattern throughout Colossians… Hope - Faith - Love … because these are foundational ideas in Paul’s letter.
In fact you might say we are beneficiaries of the Colossians.
See it in vs 6
6 This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace.
I grew up on a farm and I love getting in the dirt.
One thing I love is the way you see God’ hand in creation. The pattern we see in many parts of the order of creation is something that always fascinates me. it’s called the Fibonacci sequence… its a pattern, a ratio that is seen in all sorts of places.
Finonacci Sequence
The pattern of a sunflower
The shape of a goats horns
The pattern of leaves on plants
A pine cone
You even see it in a blackberry
In these and many other places you see this repeating pattern
Hope - Faith - Love - Hope - Faith - Love - Hope...
Hope - Faith - Love - Hope - Faith - Love - Hope...
We hear the good news of hope … that leads to faith… expressed itself as love… our love gives others hope… that leads to faith… that expresses itself as love… that then gives others hope...
That’s how the church began, and that has been the fuel for the church for centuries.
People like Epaphras back then… and People like my friend Wayne today… He heard the good news, believed it… and that belief began to change his life. who hears the good news and believes it… and that belief changes his life. He began to tell others, and it made a difference in their life.
We want every person who calls our church home to experience the real presence and power of God moving us to live as missionaries right here in our community. That we would become known as the church where God’s love is real, where hope is restored, and faith is established. My hope is that every one of us will be involved in showing and sharing God’s good news where ever needs are.
So that every person in our community will have experienced the tangible love of God through our ministries. A love that restores hope and opens them to faith, a faith that changes direction of their life. This change will see them join us as missionaries.
God's grace, working in and through us will serve as a rising tide for our entire community. We will we be changed individually, and the change in us will overflow and ripple out into every crack and corner of our community; touching every life, even those in the darkest corners. We will see hope rise again in our community as God's presence in our faith driven, hope-filled, graceful love draws people to Him.
If that’s your prayer.
Lord I want a new reputation. For too long I’ve been known as living my own way, for my own agenda. I want to be known for my faith in you and my love for your people.
I give you my life today Lord. I repent of my sin. I thank you for your forgiveness. I believe that you have made me new. TOday I begin to live for you because I am no longer my own, I belong to you Lord God almighty.
Thank you Jesus!
If you prayed that prayer for the first time welcome to the family. I invite you to click on the link below me where it says YES I've decided to follow Jesus. Even if you have prayed that prayer before, but today you are beginning again. I want to celebrate that with you. so please fill out the form that comes up so I can follow up with you.
One more thing. In addition to the study guide that is in the notes section here, that you can print out for you own use. I want to encourage families to do something with this today. Mom, Dad… today I want to help you disciple your kids, so tonight at dinner, share what you thank God for in each other.
Kids, maybe today you could spend some time making something to show your parents or your grandparents what you appreciate about them.
Then tonight at dinner, parents, spouses, why don’t yall spend a few minutes telling each other what you appreciate about each other and pray for each other. Nothing fancy… just thank God for what they mean to you. Sort of like Paul did in the passage today.
Now, i’d like to close with our benediction...
Life is much more than an accident.
Where ever you go, believe God needs you there.
Where ever you are, trust God has put you there.
He has a purpose for you being there;
Christ, alive in you, wants to do something
through you, no matter where you are
Believe this and go in His grace
and His love and His power. Amen.