Sermon Tone Analysis

The defence of the Gospel

The battle for the truth

!!! /Lord’s Day 21 January 2006, Evening Worship, 6.30pm/

!!! Announcements

!!! Silent Prayer

!!!

The Scriptures

!!!

Call to worship

Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for He is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care.

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts (Psalm 95:6-8)

!!! Doxology Hymn no 331:         /“Majesty” (repeat)/

!!! Blessing

Grace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.

!!! Hymn:                                            /“Come let us worship” (MP 96)/

!!! Prayer of Adoration and thanksgiving and confession of sins

!!! Hymn No 24:                               /“Sing to God new songs”/

!!! Prayer for others

!!! Offering and Dedication

!!! Hymn no 564:                              /“Make me a captive Lord”/

!!! Scripture Reading                     /Colossians 2:1-23/

!!! Sermon                                          /“The Defence of the Gospel/

!!! / – the battle for the truth”/

!!!!!! Introduction

My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ, once again I have the privilege to proclaim God’s Word to you.

The theme of our sermon tonight is “/The Defence of the Gospel – the battle for the truth./”

!!!!!! ; The battle

I use the word battle here to in some way reflect the words of the Apostle Paul in Col 1:29 and 2:1.

To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.

I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally.

(Colossians 1:29-2:1)

Wherever the Word of God is preached the enemy of the Word will try to destroy the work.

We have to understand that there is a constant battle for our minds and hearts.

The fact that the apostle repeats the fact that his is struggling for the church imprints on us this very important fact.

; Not only is the enemy at work to try to dishearten those who preach the Gospel; he is also at work in the heart of those who hear the Gospel.

This struggle can be physically, but in most cases it starts out as a struggle for ideas in the minds of those who preach and hear the Gospel.

In Corinth, the church where Paul’s ministry really became a struggle, sometimes physical, but more often than not, a battle of ideas and philosophies, Paul suffered a lot of hardship and heartache.

When Epaphras, the evangelist working with Paul, then went to Colossae to preach the Gospel and people came to faith in the Lord, Paul understood the struggle in which they found themselves all of a sudden.

; They needed encouragement, and that’s why he then wrote to them, and those in Laodicea, this letter.

He assured them of his prayers for them, and of the fact that they are not alone in this battle.

This encouragement in the Lord would knit them together as believers of Jesus Christ, who love one another, care for one another as brothers and sister of the same body of believers so that they could resist the onslaught of philosophies that could easily rob them of their faith in the Lord.

The situation today is nothing different.

The battle is still on; the Devil is still prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

The tactics are still the same; it comes with good sounding arguments and acceptable theories to take our minds captive to not think God’s taught after Him, but man’s thought after him.

; The tragic aspect of this battle for the minds and souls is the fact that many Christians are not even aware of it.

They are not spiritually prepared nor ready or even equipped for the battle.

In many cases they have become part of the battle, but they are only casualties listed on the roll call of the enemy.

There is a lot of truth in the saying that battles are lost when good men do nothing.

Paul’s ministry and struggle for the people living in Colossae and Laodicea was to prepare them, and to equip them for this battle.

Christ’s desire for his church is to be battle prepared and ready to destroy the enemy.

A church doing nothing is a losing church; it is a church who is risking its lamp stand in the place around the throne of God.

I am afraid, we need to be very concerned as a church!

!!!!!! ; The necessity for the full understanding of the Gospel

When Paul phrases his sentence in verses 2&3, he uses very important words:

My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

(Colossians 2:2-3)

The /understanding/ and the /mystery/, the /wisdom/ and the /knowledge/ are terms also referring to a certain group of people, the Gnostics, prevalent in the time of the letter in Colossae and Laodicea.

The philosophy of these people stressed the idea that without knowledge there is no salvation.

It was a mystical idea of union of the person with knowledge as the vehicle through which one would be saved.

This knowledge elevated you from the mundane into the spiritual where knowledge is worshipped rather than what is taught.

When Paul then uses terms like wisdom and mystery he states it very clearly that it is ; about Jesus Christ.

It is not about a mystic idea, it is about Christ who physically (1:22) died in a historical point in time, who rose again three days after his crucifixion to be our Mediator between God and man.

To know Christ and his fullness and to have an understanding of who He is, is to be armed and equipped to the battle of the mind.

To know Christ is not ; only to have a date of your conversion, how important that may be (it is lamenting how the message of Christ is watered down and limited to the personal experience of Him as the personal Saviour of individuals.)

Knowledge of Christ is to really understand all which is said in Chapter 1 about Him.

Let’s repeat a few things from this morning’s sermon.

Listen:  the Gospel is about Jesus Christ – full stop!

Jesus Christ is the Gospel.

He is our hope (1:5); He warrants the truth of the Gospel (1:6); He qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light (1:12); He rescued us from the dominion of darkness by conveying us into the kingdom of light (1:13); He redeemed us, and He forgave us our sins (1:14).

That’s not all this chapter says about Christ:  He is the image of the invisible God (1:15); by Him all things were created and all things belong to Him (1:16); He is supreme over all rulers and powers (1:16); all things hold together in Him (1:17); He is the Head of his Church (1:18); all the fullness of God dwell in Him (1:19); we are reconciled to God through Jesus Christ (1:21-22).

When we understand this doctrine about who Jesus Christ, the Son of God, really is, we begin to be ready for the battle.

The fine-sounding arguments of the enemy can be defeated, now not with ideas or feelings or experiences, but with the teachings of the Scripture about Person of Christ.

; It calls for a pure doctrinal understanding of the Bible.

Verse 6-7 is almost like a summary of the successful Christian life in the midst of this ongoing battle for the mind and the soul.

It is like the general who points to the basic principles to be effective as an army to win the battle: 

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

(Colossians 2:6-7)

!!!!!! ; The effect of a poor understanding of the Gospel

Verse 8 spells out the devastation of a poor understanding of the Gospel.

It spells out the result of a church where people are in no position to defend the Gospel.

Let’s read:

; See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

(Colossians 2:8)

The language of this verse is very openly that of a struggle or battle.

This side is the truth, the other side is false gospel.

One is about Christ, the other is about the devil.

One is about light, the other is about darkness.

On one side the forces of the Gospel are gathered; on the other side the forces of darkness.

The fight is between two kingdoms:  the Kingdom of the Son of God’s love, the Crown Prince of the living God, against the kingdom of darkness, rules by the destroyer of souls.

Those gathered under the banner of Jesus Christ look at the cross where He defeated the powers of darkness.

His victory there is their victory.

Under his banner they march forth.

He is the head of every power and authority.

When they were baptised, they were baptised in Him; there they received all that belongs to Him.  Spiritually they rose with Christ from the dead by the power of God.

They believe Him who raised Christ from the dead.

Their sins are forgiven because Christ cancelled the written code, with its regulations that was against them and stood opposed to them.

Christ took it away as He nailed it to the cross.

There, on the cruel cross of Calvary, Christ dealt with the enemy once and for all.

There He disarmed the powers and authorities and made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

On the other side are gathered the enemy of the cross.

They know they are disarmed, they know they have been made a public spectacle, yet they try again.

Their only hope would be that some of the opposing army would not really understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ.