Colossians 2:1-5
Notes
Transcript
1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. 5 For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.
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The main body of this letter… the precise point that Paul is building up to… doesn’t actually start till Colossians 2:6. Paul is going to strongly encourage the church in this city, to press on to a place of Christian maturity.
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Everything leading up to that point… is kind of introductory..
Paul is building… bits of information, upon bits of information.
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He starts out by letting them know… that they are doing well. He has heard reports of their faith and was thankful that they were bearing fruit in an increasing manner.
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But… it’s not enough, to simply bear fruit. Paul recognized… that even as they were doing well… they were doing well, as a church in it’s youth. They still had a ways to go…
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But Paul communicates this with grace… like he’s speaking to a young child who is growing strong in the maturity of their youth.... encouraging that child… that they are on the right path… and it’s his desire… that they will continue down that path.
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In Col 1:9, we learn that the intent of Paul’s prayer, is that they would be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
Why?
So they can walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.
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There is more knowledge… there is more wisdom… - they are not filled up yet.
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And yet, at the same time, they are encouraged… -
They were once in the domain of darkness… but they have been transferred to the kingdom of God..
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He reminded them… that they were once alienated and hostile in mind… but in Christ, they have been reconciled back… and stand before God as being blameless...
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Paul continued to bring them back to the Gospel… as the very thing that not only sustains them… but maintains them… challenges them… grows them… and inspires them.
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And then, in the end of chapter one and the beginning of chapter 2… Paul lets them know… that he is very invested. He has prayed for them, suffered for them, and he has struggled greatly for them.
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Paul is about to directly call the people in this church to a place of maturity. But, he has… just a little more groundwork on the topic of ‘maturity’ to lay down.
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Today we will look at these first five verses, and consider this groundwork...
There are four points…
So… let’s just jump into it..
Point One.
-The encouragement to mature excels in community (vs. 2)
2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ,
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Paul is speaking to the believers in Colosse and Laodicea… encouraging them to be united… to literally be ‘knit together’ in love.
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Why?
Because they were being given a challenge…
They were being given a goal...
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to do what?
To reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery… which is Christ.
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Now that… is a tall order.
And part of this tall order is achieved… when believers are knit together in love.
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We might not know how to reach all the riches of full assurance..
We might not understand the steps we need to take to comprehend the knowledge of God’s mystery…
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But we do know one thing… a part of this is attainable to us… a part of this, is something we can understand… - We can be intent, as believers, to be knit together in love.
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One of the principles of Christianity that we humans have a hard time getting a hold of… is the ‘little / big principle’...
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God tells us… “Do a little… Have a little faith… Have a little knowledge… give a little worship”… - and what will God do? - He’ll respond with the ‘BIG’ stuff.
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Do a little marching and a little shouting… and God will knock a city wall down.
Have the priest take a little step into the Jordan river… and God will hold it back so that the entire nation can cross into the promised land…
Be willing to take a little step of faith… like Jonathan and his armor bearer, or like Gideon with is 300, armed with clay pots and torches… - and God will defeat the innumerable foe.
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Think of the biggest event of our Christian experience… our very salvation. We respond in faith… but it’s not even our own faith… it’s a faith that is given to us by the Holy Spirit.... He brings the conviction that leads to belief…
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He reveals to us, the impossible truth… - that we are desperately lost w/o Jesus. -
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And we respond… We repent and declare Jesus as our Lord… - It’s such a little thing in comparison… -because GOD RESPONDS IN A BIG WAY.
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God gives us something we could not earn, afford, or attain in our own strength or by our own intellect. We do a little… and He responds in a BIG WAY…
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Well, verse two fits into this principle…
He wants to fulfill this tall order in our lives… He wants our hearts to be fully assured and filled with understanding...
He wants our hearts to possess the knowledge of God’s mystery…
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This is big stuff…
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But in comparison… we are asked to do a little thing. We as Christians… simply need to love one another.
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We might not know how to practically gain full assurance… or full understanding… or truly know God’s mystery… - That’s the big stuff…
… - let God work the big stuff out… -
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But we can start with something little… - We can start, by loving one another.
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Love does a lot…
In fact… I’m going to give you 9 examples from the scriptures…
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Love identifies us to the world as His disciples...
35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
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Love fulfills the law...
10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
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Love puts you in a place where you serve others sacrificially...
1 Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up.
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The lack of love makes all the most impressive gifts you can display… worthless..
2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
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The fruit of the spirit is love… and love produces some good stuff in us…
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
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Love makes everything fit together just right…
14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
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Our love brings joy and comfort to others
7 For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.
Love covers a multitude of sins
8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.
Love lets us know who we are...
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
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Interestingly… the next verse in 1 John concludes by saying… “God is love”.
God identifies Himself as love…
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This ties to the final words of verse 2 back in Colossians 2…
Paul identifies.... the riches of full assurance… the riches of understanding… and Paul identifies God’s mystery. - What are all these things? Or better yet… who is all these things?
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These things are identified as being… - Jesus.
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What is verse 2 telling us?
If you want to truly know Jesus… you need to make the effort, to truly love one another.
And just like… with any relationship… the more time you invest in getting to know someone, the more you learn about them...
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Jesus is God’s mystery… Jesus is assurance… Jesus is understanding… God is love…
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And I’ll admit… love is not easy. It might be easy to love your spouse, or to love your own children… but to love your fellow Christian? To love, ‘one another’… that’s not easy.
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The most difficult part of being a Christian, is usually… other Christians. Which is part, is why many folks leave smaller fellowships where the environment forces you to be in community… and go to a place where they can hide in the crowd.
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Loving one another… is not easy… It’s hard labor… it’s a a heavy burden… -
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But. It’s a big part in the effort to better know Jesus..
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Let me conclude point one with this vs.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
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Point TWO:
-Everything needed for maturity, is all found in Christ (vs. 3)
3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
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I think there’s a difference between… possessing information… and having knowledge.
I think there’s a difference between… being intelligent, and being wise.
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The Bible teaches us… that there is a connection between knowledge and wisdom… and God.
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7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
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You can amass information… but, w/o the fear of … or the reverence for God… you don’t have true knowledge or wisdom.
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In his sermon, “Knowledge Commended”… Charles Spurgeon said this:
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. XI Knowledge Commended (No. 609)
Think again, dear friends, of the influence of faith upon all the other graces. Love is the sweetest of all; but how can I love till knowledge gives me a view of Christ? Knowledge opens the door, and then through that door I see my Saviour
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Spurgeon makes the connection between love and knowledge… reminding us again… that if we truly want to know love… if we truly want to know ‘knowledge’… we truly need to know Jesus...
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And to truly know Jesus… as we’ve already learned… we need to make every effort, to truly love one another.
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Some people live out their entire Christian experience… they amass knowledge… they go to a bunch of churches… they might even do the work of ministry… - but they never really figure out how to get out of the way of their own pride… and make the effort to love one another.
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They can quote the verses… they can recite the doctrines… they can display the degrees.. they can present the resumes… - but they lack true knowledge, they lack TRUE MATURITY… because they lack love…
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POINT THREE:
-Maturity in Christ, equips the believer to repel contrary arguments (vs.4)
4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.
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what is a plausible argument? - It’s one Greek word that simply means, “persuasive speech”
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the word ‘delude’ means… ‘to cleverly deceive’…
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Understanding this principle is pretty simple. If something is ‘persuasive’ in nature… then we who hear it… may become easily deceived.
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In this, we see a combination of spiritual truth and basic psychology.
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Basic psychology shows us how easily people can be led to believe things. It shows us how easily people can cling onto a thread of propaganda and get sucked into it.
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When we don’t engage reason and rational thought… we can be led to believe all kinds of things.. - When the majority voice is out to create impressions rather than reporting news… people get sucked in. They are told what to believe… and they do.
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And that’s all fine and well when it comes to politics…
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… but when it comes to issues of faith… when it comes to the issue of thinking rightly about who God is… or who Jesus is… - When it comes to thinking rightly about the Bible and how it should be interpreted… - When it comes to thinking rightly about the cross… the substitutionary atonement, and the resurrection…
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.... IT IS OF THE UTMOST IMPORTANCE.
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In verse 6 and 7… Paul is going to begin a direct call to maturity… and there he says:
6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
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That passage is for next week… but today, we will consider as a cross reference…
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If you are rooted… if you are built up… if you are established… - You will not easily be swayed from the truth of your faith.
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Even if the arguments are persuasive… even if the conversations are clever… even if our ‘feels and our emotions and our sympathies’ are begging to comply…
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If we are maturing in Christ… we won’t be deceived and the persuasive arguments… won’t so easily draw us away...
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Finally: POINT FOUR
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Our maturity serves as an encouragement to those who teach us.
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5 For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.
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Paul may not have been directly involved in this church. Paul wasn’t there to teach them, disciple them or correct them..
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But still, Paul saw himself as a leader, as a spiritual father, as a mentor to the Gentile churches. They were his calling… and he rejoiced to see their faith in Christ…
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I’m going to be brutally honest… and selfish right now.
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I, as your pastor… want to see the fruit of my efforts… in your life.
I want to know, that I am doing my job well.
I don’t want to see people who are under my teaching…
being led astray by deceptive and persuasive arguments.
continuing on, year in and year out, in spiritual immaturity...
hearing, but not learning...
failing to move beyond the elementary principles of the faith
getting led astray by false doctrine
or embracing progressive doctrines of compromise.
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I want to see an environment, here in our little community… where heresy will find no place for its roots to sink in.
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I want to see a strong level of discernment, rooted in the scriptures… to confront false ideas that might creep in…
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I want to see people who are sacrificially loving one another… - You don’t have to like everyone in your church… but you are called to love them…
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I want to see people who are committed to serving and generosity.
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And the cool thing is… - I do get to see these things.
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Before Covid-19 hit, we had a much higher than average percentage of people serving in our church… than most churches. - Hopefully, one day, when we can do ministry with our children again… we will see those percentages return.
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We are above the average for generosity also. The average Christian in America gives back to the Lord, 2.5% of their income. Christians under 30 barely show up on any surveys…
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But here, a significant portion of our congregations actually tithes… even some of our folks in their 20’s.
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I’ll never forget a study that was done about 15 years ago… they determined, if every Christian in America went on welfare, and began to tithe faithfully, giving in the church would go up by nearly 70%
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Listen… a lot of people with a mutated view of what the church should look like, consider us as being a failure… Why? Because of a petty thing called a ‘head count’.
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In America… numbers = success..
The local hardware store isn’t success… Lowes and Home Depot is success..
The locally owned grocery, or mercantile store isn’t success… Sams Club is success.
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I’ve been doing this for over 20 years… we have had the opportunity to be part of 6 church plants… we have done ministry all over the world… our little church has been on the frontline of hurricane relief work… and we have people who were saved in this fellowship, still here, growing and serving 15-20 years later.
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We don’t do the things that draw crowds…
And we never will…
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So, like the Apostle Paul… I like to look upon our little church and see the fruit. I am encouraged by that. I am encouraged by your maturity.
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It’s more difficult to see nowadays on a weekly basis… when a large percentage of our congregation is at home every week joining us on the live-feed.. when the biggest opportunity to serve, is currently suspended…
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But I know what’s real… and I’m still encouraged by the maturity of our community.
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Next week, we will pick up in verse 6… where Paul enters into the main body of this letter, by calling the people of Colosse and Laodicea… to a higher state of maturity.
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The letter becomes incredibly practical and applicable from this point out… and I look forward to working our way through it with you...
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