“Becoming Christian”
August 3, 2008
“We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints— the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Colossians 1:3-14
Paul is one of my heroes. What a wonderful man of God he is. God used him to write most of the New Testament, although he started out as a religious zealot that was anti-Christ. He was so anti-Christian and anti-Christ that he had a hand in killing and jailing many of them.
But God looks at the heart. I think he saw within Paul a heart for God – but a misguided heart. I think Paul was sweep up by his zeal and emotion - even over his intellect and knowledge. He was swayed by the pressure of his peers in the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of the Jews. I think he must have ignored or dismissed the voice of the Holy Spirit as God tried to correct Him. So God had to get his attention on the road to Damascus. You know the story. So from anti-Christ, Paul became so committed; so in love with Jesus, that he gave his life in service and sacrifice and eventually became a martyr for the Master.
Paul is an interesting man. He was very passionate. He was very emotional. He understood the emotional aspect of Christianity. You can see his gentle understanding as he deals with immature emotionalism in the Corinthian Church and the ‘tongues issue”. He doesn’t discount it or dismiss it. But he lovingly shows a more excellent way.
To the simplistic legalistic Christian, whether it is to those who believe that salvation is obtained through meritorious works, or those who believe that the Christian has arrived simply by grace, he gently, with great compassion and understanding, guide them into the truth - which is salvation is by grace, through faith – expressed through acts of loving service. (Ephesians 2:8-10)
Paul was a zealot. He was passionate, no doubt about it. But he was also brilliant and knowledgeable and educated by the best scholar in the land. God uses Paul’s logic and intellect to reveal His will in a way that all who seek can understand.
In our Scripture this morning, Paul, in a simple way, reveals a great intellectual process. It’s the process of growing in grace. It’s the process of becoming a man or woman of God. Let’s take a look at it.
First of all, it begins by hearing the Word of God. He says,
“the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth” Colossians 1:5
After hearing the Word of God – hope springs into being. Hope is germinated in the life-giving Word of God. To the Roman Church he wrote:
“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” Romans 15:4
Do you understand that it all begins with hearing the word of God? It may be by reading the Bible (as I did), or it may be by hearing the word through a preacher or evangelist (as Julie did), or it may be by hearing the Word over the radio or TV or from a friend, or neighbor or relative, as so many have. But our relationship with God begins by hearing His word spoken to us in a personal way.
Since our relationship with God begins by hearing the Word, do you see that it makes sense that the bible is the first thing the enemy attacks? Bibles are often the first thing burned when evil comes into power. The Bible is discredited by skeptics and the godless. Sharing the Word with others is so hard for us to do because the enemy works so hard to prevent it. Paul wrote to the Roman church
“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” Romans 10:14
The Christian’s great commission is to “go and make disciples… and teach them everything Jesus said.” (Matthew 28:19-20) We are here today because somehow, someway – we heard the gospel story. And by the way, we need to pass it on, don’t we? We need to share the blessing. We are obligated to share the gospel in the same measure we received it, Phineas Bresee said.
So the beginning is hearing the Word of God. And as we hear God’s Word; as we listen to His promises and understand how much God loves us; as we hear the wonderful things God has in store for us for all eternity; and as we realize God can help us in our problems and troubles and sin – a wonderful thing happens. Hope begins to grow within our heart.
Hope is the second stage of Spiritual growth. Not a lot is said about hope today – but it is so important. The definition of hope is “the trusting expectation that God will keep His Word.” Hope is an expectation of better things to come. That is why Paul listed it as one of the three great eternal things. He said,
“The three most important things to have are faith, hope and love…” 1 Corinthians 13:13 (NIRV)
Love is the most important thing – but don’t discount hope. Without hope there is no love. Without hope there is no life. Why do people commit suicide? Usually because they are without hope. Life seems so empty and hopeless. “Why go on living”, they think. Why do so many elderly people just roll over and die in the rest homes and hospitals? It’s more than pain and achy bodies. It’s hopelessness. There seems no promise of good things to come. There is no expectation of better days. And they give up and die.
Without hope there is no faith. Paul wrote to the Hebrew Christians:
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1
Do you see that faith is built on hope? You hear the Word of God, it inspires hope within you, and faith is built on that. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6) – but without hope you can’t have faith. That’s why it is so important to read the bible and go to church and study the Scriptures. As you learn the promises of God and receive them for yourself personally - you grow in grace and knowledge and make fertile ground for faith.
Faith is the third step in the process of being the man or woman that God wants you to be. Paul writes to the Hebrew Christians:
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Hebrews 11:6
To please God you must believe He is real – that He exists. You must also believe that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. In other words, you must believe in a God who rewards. You must believe in a good God who blesses His children. You must believe God will make it worth your while to live for Him. How can we do that? By faith.
Faith is composed of three main elements (Belief, Trust, and Action) in a five step process. The process goes like this. 1. We heard the Word of God. 2. Hope grows in our hearts that God is good and will bless and reward us. 3. We believe God. 4. We trust that He will do the right thing for us. 5. We obey or act on what He is asking us to do.
Faith is always made up of these three things (belief, trust, action) – or it isn’t real faith. You can use the illustration of going through a four-way intersection with stop signs on all corners. It has been revealed to you that if you stop first, the other cars will stop for you and allow you to proceed. You believe it. You trust that truth. And you act by proceeding through the intersection. You are living by your faith in that revealed truth.
Paul used the example of Abraham for saving faith. God revealed that He wanted Abraham to sacrifice his son to Him. Abram believed God, trusted God, built an alter, lit the fire and began to plunge the knife into his son’s chest before God stopped him. Belief, trust, action.
What does that mean to you and me? Every day God reveals truth to us. Every day we realize God’s will for us in some area. If we walk by faith – we need to believe, trust and obey. If we don’t – something is wrong. We probably don’t have enough hope or the expectation that God will reward and bless us for this action. In that case we need to get into God’s Word more until hope overflows in our hearts. Our Scriptures says,
“the faith and love that spring from the hope…” Colossians 1:5
So not only does faith spring from hope – but love does as well. Love is the next step in this process of growth. As we read the Scriptures and come to know God – we learn to love Him. When we love Him – it is easier to believe Him and Trust Him and Obey Him. But I think I would put faith slightly ahead in this process. Knowledge, hope, faith, and then love. I think we have to reach a place where we obey because God is God and we are His creation. That’s how we grow in faith. From there love is formed. But first comes faith. Listen to this.
“The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"
He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ’Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.
"Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ’Come along now and sit down to eat’? Would he not rather say, ’Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ’We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’ " Luke 17:5-10
In all of that- growth in faith is accomplished by simply obeying. But then comes love. And when you love God – some other things happen. I’m not going to take the time to go into them this morning, but our Scripture reveals that when we love God we will have a desire to know God’s will. When we love God we will desire to live a life that is worthy of the Lord. We will desire to please Him in every way. When we love God we will desire to grow in knowledge. When you love someone you want to know everything about them – don’t you. When you love Jesus with all your heart and soul – you will hunger for more knowledge of Him. When you love Jesus you will produce the fruit of the Spirit. You will grow in ever increasing ways.
When you love Jesus you will endure anything the enemy throws at you. Paul suffered so much for Jesus. He got slammed by the devil and the world – but also, even by the church at times. Even those within the Body failed him at times. But his love caused him to grow in patience and endurance.
The coating for the Christian is sweetness. The Holy Spirit makes us sweet. Our hearts are filled with joy. Our hearts are filled with love. Our hearts are filled with gratitude. We are pretty nice to be around.
And it gets even better. Paul reminds us of our destination. He says,
“…who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves…” Col 1:12-13
The man or woman of God has an inheritance. It is the ‘kingdom of light’. It is in the kingdom of the Son. And it only gets better.
Where are you on the journey? Where are you in this process? Are you stuck on one stage? Are you happy just to be saved? God wants more from you. God wants you to keep growing. What will it take to get you there? Maybe a prayer like this will help:
Dear Jesus,
I believe in you. I put my faith and hope in you. Cause me to grow in love for you. Help me to grow in knowledge of you and your will. Forgive me for not being all you want me to be. With your help – I promise to do better.
In Jesus Name.
