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Col. 1:5-12
* *
DMV lady
1993 Dept. of Education study estimated that 40 million people in the U.S. 15 and older couldn’t read past a 3rd grade level.
I am in no way making fun of these people.
But I want to make a simple point.
When you don’t know the basics, everything is hard.
Life is a constant struggle for those adults in America who struggle to read or write, because they are lacking the basics.
I think many Christians are in this same situation spiritually.
They either don’t really understand the basics, or they have practically forgotten about them in the way they live their daily lives.
And Christianity is a constant struggle for them because they don’t have the basics.
In many ways, Colossians calls us back to the basics.
Because, like we saw last week, we are prone to get off on all kinds of other things.
And miss the main things.
Last week we were challenged to a Christ-centered life.
Christ has absolute supremacy and complete sufficiency.
He is the main point, so get back to a Christ-centered life.
Our text in Colossians 1 today gives a peek into a Christ-centered life.
What would be some characteristics of a Christ-centered life?
Or, what are some basics that we need to make sure we focus on?
We’ll see three in our text today.
READ 1:1-10a
 
Three characteristics of a Christ-centered life:
 
*1.
**Praise God for your hope.*
READ 3-5A
· you might want to mark this in your Bibles: “praying always … for all the saints” is parenthetical; not unimportant, but like a parentheses in the thought
· We give thanks to God (praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints) because of the hope laid up for you in heaven
· We are thanking God for you … by the way we are praying for you, since we heard that you trusted Christ, and heard that you love one another … and so, when we pray for you, we are thanking God for the hope that is laid up for you in heaven
The main thing Paul is praising God for is their hope.
The first characteristic of a Christ-centered life: praise God for your hope.
You see, hope is one of those things that defines a Christian.
Your washing machine pipes burst just like your unsaved neighbor.
Your day at work may go poorly just like your unsaved coworker.
Your child may get the chicken pox just like your unsaved friend’s child.
Sometimes it looks like there isn’t that much difference.
But that is when we need to praise God for our hope.
Because despite the outward appearances, there is something radically different.
You have a hope laid up for you in heaven.
· What is hope?
confidence in what you have not seen based on the Word of God; confidence in your forgiveness; confidence in the power of the cross; confidence of eternity with God; confidence that God is working all things together for your good and His glory; confidence of your inheritance in heaven; confidence that there are eternally significant things to live for
· What is the opposite of hope?
despair, depression, doubt, discouragement: worry about what will happen; fear of what will happen; depression because you think nothing good will ever happen
· “hope which is laid up for you in heaven”
If we get the blessings of Christ in this life but then go to hell, what good is that?
We need hope for this life and for eternity.
So Paul says you have “hope which is laid up for you in heaven.”
Confidence because you know that God is not only doing good things here, He is going to keep doing great things /forever/.
You are going to be lavished with grace forever.
Transition: so here is a characteristic of Christ-centered living.
When your circumstances start to weigh on you, praise God for your hope.
Now look at what Paul says next READ 5-6
 
*2.
*If you are going to have a Christ-centered life, you have to *remember the gospel*
· The gospel is bearing fruit in the world; it is literally “growing,” it is spreading and its influence is powerful.
Because of what the Bible teaches about the end times, we do not believe that things are getting better; I am not expecting the gospel to slowly overtake the world until virtually everyone believes, like a postmillenialist would believe.
But the gospel is still, 2000 years later, powerfully bearing fruit in the world.
I just read a report this week from a missionary in Japan about three ladies who were saved in that incredibly spiritually cold country.
I read from another missionary who baptized 10 adults last month in New Guinea, still one of the most backward countries in the world.
Another missionary has 100 students enrolled in a Bible College and seminary in Manila in the Philippines.
The gospel is at work all around the world.
It is exciting to be involved in ministry, to be seeking to witness and share about Christ, because the powerful gospel is at work in the world today.
· But Paul also points out that the gospel’s work isn’t done in our lives.
He says that the gospel is continuing to bear fruit in their lives.
Our salvation is not yet complete – we have only partially experienced all that the gospel will do in our lives.
It is still at work in you and it will continue to bear fruit in you and increase in your life until you are finally glorified.
· I think practically this just reminds us not to forget the gospel.
Those key truths are just as important for us today as the day we first accepted Christ.
Our experience with the gospel did not end at conversion.
The basic truths of the gospel are still the most important truths for our lives.
If we lived in the daily reality of gospel truths, what would our lives look like?
If we recognized God as creator and ruler of the world; if we saw our sin in all of its horror; if we tasted the wonder of Christ; if we stood in awe of forgiveness; if we humbled ourselves completely beneath the cross; if we simply lived in the reality of those basic gospel truths every day, what kind of Christians would we be!
Here’s the second characteristic of Christ-centered living.
Remember the gospel.
· This is also an encouragement to get the gospel out there to people.
It is full of power, God’s power.
It is still powerful today.
So just get it out there.
Share it.
Transition: Two characteristics we have seen: 1) praise God for your hope 2) remember the gospel.
READ 9-10A
 
3.
Fill yourself with the knowledge of His will
Admittedly, this is in the form of a prayer, not a command.
Paul understands that ultimately it is only by God’s grace that any of us know and understand God’s will.
But Paul is also teaching in telling them his prayer.
Just like every area of sanctification, we have this seeming paradox that it is God’s work in our lives /so we pray for it/, but it is 100% our responsibility to do what he calls us to do, /so we do it!/
To fill ourselves with the knowledge of His will.
So certainly Paul wants them to see his prayer for them and pursue this for themselves.
REQUEST #1 “Be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and  understanding”
· Paul could have said “I want you to look for the knowledge of His will.”
He could have said “I want you to have some of the knowledge of His will.”
But he specifically chose the word “filled” - “I want you to be filled.”
· filled = not a little bit wet, not a few drops, but filled up with the knowledge of his will; full of it; you’ve got just about as much as you can possibly hold
· and Paul also uses the word here that means “full knowledge, complete knowledge”
· What is “the knowledge of His will”?
· many people, when they see “God’s will,” think immediately of the future; but does Paul really want them to be filled up with secret knowledge about what is coming in the future?
Is he asking God to reveal the future to them?
· There is a much better way to understand this: Paul isn’t talking about secrets about future events.
He is simply talking about God’s desires for their lives.
What God wants for their lives.
· Of course we will find that in our Bible!
Here’s God’s will for me – don’t worry, but let my requests be made known unto God.
Here’s God’s will – don’t love the things of the world.
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