Text: Colossians 1:3-14
Title: The measure of a great church.
Introduction
A.The apostle Paul was always thanking God for the Colossian church. (v3)
“We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you…
B.The reason being: It was such a great church. (v6)
“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.”
1.It was bearing fruit and growing
What does it take in order to make a great church? (v3-14)
Discovery
1. Everything that made the Colossian church great transcends time and location.
A.Everything that made the Colossian church great can be repeated today
B.Everything that made the Colossian church great can happen here in New England.
C.We can’t say “We can’t do that here.”
The Message
The very first thing that made the Colossian church so great was:
1.It’s faith in Christ Jesus (v3)
“We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you because we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus.”
A.What Paul means by “it’s faith in Christ Jesus” is –it’s saving faith in Christ Jesus.
Everyone in the church was trusting in Christ’s death on the cross as the grounds for their acceptance before God.
The foundation of every great church is - saving faith in Christ Jesus.
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven, given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
“Believe in the lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved!” (Acts 16:31)
Application: If everyone here has saving faith in Christ Jesus we have laid the proper foundation for becoming a great church!
Some people might say that saving faith in Christ is the only measure of a great church.
Just get people saved and you will have a great church!
But there are other measures to a great church that must be built upon saving faith in Christ.
Paul says the second measure of a great church is:
2.It’s love for all the saints (v4,8)
““We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you because we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints-“ (v4)
The Colossian church was a great church because of its saving faith in Christ and its love for all the saints. It was a loving church.
(V8) The cause of all the love in the church was the Holy Spirit.
“and has also told me of your love in the spirit.” (v8)
The Holy Spirit was filling those who had saving faith in Christ with the love of God and they in turn were sharing that love with each other.
But in order to give the love of God you have to first receive the love of God.
Only a Spirit- controlled person or church can fully receive the love of God
“God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” (Romans 5:5)
What does a loving church look like? A loving church is a church without favoritism.
Notice Paul said – you love for all the saints.
How do you love everyone in the church?
By seeing everyone who has saving faith in Christ as a saint rather than a sinner.
Seeing someone as a saint rather than a sinner is seeing that person as God sees them. It means looking at the good in others rather than the bad.
Saving faith in Christ and love for all the saints are not the only measures of a great church?
Another measure of a great church is…
3.It’s hope towards the future (v5)
“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.”
Don’t underestimate hope! Hope is the oxygen of the soul.
Saving faith and love for all the saints both come from the hope stored up for us in heaven.
Because we have put our hope in Jesus we have saving faith and love for all the saints.
So where does hope come from? Paul tells us hope comes from the Word of God!
It’s the promises of God contained in the word of God that bring us hope
Whenever we neglect the word of God we will experience a sense of hopelessness.
Here is a big help when it comes to keeping hopeful.Most of what we hope for is waiting for us up in heaven.
In verse 6 we have yet another measure of a great church. This one is huge!
4.It’s understanding of God’s grace (v6)
“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.”
The greatest enemy of the church is cheap grace. The church is fighting for costly grace. Cheap grace is the idea that since Christ paid it all I don’t have to do anything. I don’t have to bear fruit. I don’t have to grow. Cheap grace has no idea of how much it cost Christ to purchase our salvation. Cheap grace saves nobody. It justifies the sin without justifying the sinner.
Costly grace is the complete opposite of cheap grace. Costly grace is the true understanding of God’s grace. Since Christ paid it all at such a high price I must bear fruit. I have no other choice. Since Christ paid it all at such a high price I must grow.
"For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect." 1 Peter 1:18-19
So far we have looked at 4 measures of a great church.
1.Faith in Christ Jesus
2.Love for all the saints
3.Hope in the future
4.Understanding of God’s grace
Here is a 5th one
5.It’s servant leaders (v7)
“You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who told us of your love in the Spirit.”
There is always a human element to being a great church. In order to be a great church you must have great leaders. Great churches have great leaders.
One of the reasons Colossians was a great church was because Epaphras was a great leader.
1.He taught them right
He taught them all that was right about faith, love, hope and grace
2.He modeled it right
He was an example of a dear fellow servant and a faithful minister of Christ.Our Content and our Character are inseparable
Two more measures of a great church
6.It’s deep prayer life (v9)
“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.”
Great churches don’t just automatically happen. It takes great amounts of prayer over a great amount of time to bring about a great church.
Great churches never stop praying and asking God to fill them with the knowledge of His will.
Great churches know that God’s will is not the same for every church. What works in another part of the country might not work here in New England.
God might choose to bless a specific way of doing ministry in another part of the country and not bless it here in New England.
The knowledge of God’s will comes only to those who pray for it.
Every great man or woman of God was a man or woman of prayer. No exceptions.
The last measure of a great church is it’s
7.It’s transformational disciples (v10-14)
“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.
Great churches know what business they are in. They are in the business of changing lives. It’s always good to ask ourselves “How’s business?”
1.Reconciliation (Something that God has already done for us) (v13)
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.
2.Renewal (something that God is currently doing in us)
1.Are we living a life worthy of the Lord?
2.Are we pleasing the Lord in every way?
3.Are we bearing fruit in every good work?
4.Are we growing in the knowledge of God?
5.Are we being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might?
6.Have we great endurance and patience?
7.Are we joyfully giving thanks to God the Father and the Son?
Conclusion: Are we a great church?
