Introduction:
I. I have a friend, a co-worker to be more specific, who comes from an American Indian heritage.
A. He is actually quite proud of his background,
B. In talking with him about Christ, I also discovered that he claims Christ as his savior.
1. Sounds good right.
2. That is great, but there is a situation.
C. Early on in our talking about faith, he made a statement something lie this.
1. Well, I believe in Jesus as savior, BUT
2. Being an Indian, I also believe in the old Indian ways.
a. “I saw Jesus” he told me
b. “He’s the Great White Buffalo to our people.”
II. Now that may sound just a bit funny to most of us, for surely Jesus is not a buffalo.
A. But what is wrong with that concept?
B. He said he believe Jesus is his savior.
C. Can he not also believe in another faith or religion?
III. Today we begin a study of the letter to the Colossians,
A. Part of the reason, in fact the main reason Paul wrote this letter was to answer just such questions.
1. Maybe not a “Is Jesus a buffalo question.”
2. But since the dawning of the church age, some people have attempted to join faith in Christ with other “methods” of salvation.
B. The big word for this is Sycretism.
IV. For Paul, other biblical writers, and for my own personal faith belief, Christ and Christ alone must reign supreme in our lives;
A. It is not Christ in addition to something else, or something else in addition to Christ.
B. If Christ is to have a supreme place in our lives, it means Christ is the ONLY answer to the questions we have about life and eternity.
V. It is just a bit like this.
A. In our store, we sell a particular brand of stove product.
1. It is not uncommon for someone to come in and say,
a. I was looking at such and such brand of stoves.
b. How do yours compare to those?”
2. My answer always goes along these lines,
a. “I really don’t know.
b. But I can tell you this about the product that we sell.”
B. Making/Giving Christ the priority in your life is a bit like that.
1. I really can’t tell you about other religions or faiths, BUT
2. I can tell you what living with Christ means to me.
VI. Let’s begin this morning by reading Colossians chapter 1, verses 1 to 11.
VII. Paul begins by saying, “I was called by God.”
Called by God (vs. 1-2)
1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2 to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
I. Colossae was once a powerful city, located on a major trade route.
A. By this writing however, Colossae was beginning to fade, perhaps a bit like our area and it’s association with the old steel mill.
B. As with most major cities, it attracted people from all backgrounds, including religion.
C. And like many cities, Colossae welcomed the worship of many faiths.
II. I have already said that one of the major problems Paul is addressing was the practice called syncretism.
A. Again, because I believe it is important for us to understand, Syncretism is essentially the blending of one or more religions.
B. People would say, just like my Indian friend,
1. I worship Christ, BUT,
2. I also worship or join with my Christianity this other God.
III. Today we might say,
A. I worship Christ, of course I do,
1. But I leave room that there may be another way, or
2. I pray to Christ, but he’s so big you can’t just go straight to Him.
B. And of course many say,
1. “It really doesn’t matter what God you pray to or worship.
2. If you are sincerely trying to worship, God will understand,
C. BUT will HE; second place or joint place really OK with God?
IV. Paul says,
A. I am an apostle, a sent one from Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ alone, through the will of God.
B. I was not sent by someone equal to God, or someone in addition to God,
C. I was sent by God, to be faithful to Christ alone.
V. This may not read as all that important, but when you couple it with the context of the readers it is very important,
A. Paul is making a statement that in a day and age where other faiths are proliferating, I stand firm in Christ and Christ alone.
B. Paul is echoing Acts 4:12 - 12 “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.”
VI. Here is the question that these two short verses bring up?
A. Who or what might be competing in your own life with the supremacy of Christ?
B. What might you have coupled with Christ,
1. Angels - some do
2. Saints - some do
3. Miracles, some do.
VII. Anytime we give anything or any faith a place alongside of Christ, we are relegating Christ to second place.
VIII. In our lives, absolutely nothing can compare with Christ, and that begins with how we pray.
Pray For Others (vs. 3-6)
3 We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth;
I. There is something rather interesting that is taking place in this letter which must not be overlooked.
A. As in all his letters, Paul appears to be writing to close friends,
1. Maybe people he worked with through the years,
2. Maybe people that he knew in his previous life that also came to faith in Christ,
B. We know Paul was responsible for starting many churches in many areas, perhaps these are some of them.
II. But truth be told, these are none of that, in fact
A. Paul never visited Colossae
B. In fact, he probably didn’t know these people at all, except for Epaphras, who he names in verse 7
C. When Paul writes, “...since I heard of your faith...” he meant it, he had only heard of them, yet he says, “I have not stopped praying for you.”
III. I find this just a bit convicting
A. Certainly some of us are better at writing than others.
B. And some of us are more faithful in praying than others,
C. Evidently Paul was better at both, even with people he didn’t know.
IV. There are three principles that I want to quickly point out here.
A. #1 - Paul prayed for other believers, even believers he did not personally know, how much more should we pray for those we do know.
B. #2 - Paul let people know he was praying for them, and then
C. #3 - Paul let them know what he was praying for.
V. And that is where we want to spend the remainder of our morning; how can I pray for others.
Give Thanks For New Believers
VI. Paul says, “We, give thanks to God, praying always...”
VII. It would be nice if when someone comes to faith in Christ, they become mature, but as we are all aware, when we come to Christ, we bring all our suitcases with us.
A. We bring our past hurts,
B. We bring our old belief system,
C. We bring the junk in our lives, and the junk still to come.
VIII. Making Christ supreme in our lives is not some automatic thing that happens when the Holy Spirit takes his place in our lives, and it doesn’t automatically happen in others either.
A. I believe that is one reason Paul prayed, and certainly it is a reason that we should pray for new believers, but not just new believers.
B. How many of us still carry baggage into our daily Christian walk.
IX. We struggle with decisions every day,
A. Nobody will notice if I _________________________
B. Everybody else is doing or not doing ______________________________
C. Would it be that wrong if I just once, _____________________________
X. Having Christ in our lives gives us power, but our problem is we don’t automatically use the power that God has made available.
XI. We need to pray for one another, not simply the physical stuff, as important as that is, but also the daily grind of life.
Pray for Workers in the Field (vs. 7-9)
7 just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, 8 and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit. 9 For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
I. I would like to ask you two questions;
A. Question #1 - ***Who led you to faith in Jesus Christ?
B. Now Question #2 - ***Of those people that were named as leading someone else to faith in Christ, how many of you had also heard of them?
II. Here is my point, or are my points,
A. Many times we think that in order for someone to accept Jesus Christ as savior, we have to get them to come hear Billy Grahm, or Greg Lurie, or some other “name” in Christians circles.
B. Here in these verses, Paul states several things,
1. “...you learned about Christ from Epaphrus,”
2. Epaphrus told me/us about your faithfulness, and we have not stopped praying for you,
C. Evidently, for the Colossians, Epaphrus must have been someone of importance in their circle,
D. Now let me ask you,
1. “who was Epaphrus?”
2. Compared to Paul, and what we know about Paul, how much do we know about Epaphrus?
III. Let’s read verses 7-9 again,
A. That is what we know about Epaphrus, nothing more,
B. My point, pray for workers, but I am not simply talking about those we consider “names” in our Christians circles.
IV. Pray for workers like Epaphrus; workers that want to place Christ in the supreme place in their lives, and people that don’t need to make a name for themselves in order to serve.
V. Pray for workers, people just like you; that work hard every day, and still want to see the lost come to faith in Christ.
VI. How can you pray for those you care about?
A. You don’t have to wait for a list of their physical ills,
B. Give thanks for those that come to faith in Christ,
C. Pray for workers that want to see the lost find Christ.
D. Pray that as believers we continue to grow and learn give Christ the supreme place in our lives.
Pray For Others Walk (vs. 10-11)
9 For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously
I. I’m not going to spend a lot of time here, but consider this, when we pray for one another, how do we typically decide what to pray for?
A. We may meet to together and share our prayer needs;
1. maybe about our health issue,
2. or some personal issue.
B. We may share some “prayer need,” gossip and pray for someone else’s need.
II. How often have you met with someone or “someone’s” and said
A. “Pray for my walk”
B. Pray for my spiritual growth,
C. Pray that I would know Christ better,
D. Pray that I would know how to keep Christ on the throne in this area of my life?
III. It happens, but it is pretty rare, BUT,
A. How many of us know that we have such needs,
B. How many of us know that others also have real needs to grow in their walk,
1. Not necessarily that they are doing anything wrong,
2. But simply that we can all do to grow some.
C. Everyone of us; every day,
IV. I close with this thought,
A. I know, and freely confess that there are any number of areas of life where I struggle to give Christ supremacy.
B. I also know that every one of us struggles in the same way,
V. I freely confess that I will not freely confess exactly what those area’s might be, but
VI. If we really want to give Christ supremacy in our lives, we should covet prayers of those that care about us, and we can freely pray for others to give Christ supremacy.
VII. Christ is not something you add; Christ is complete all in himself.
