OPEN: Today we are going to be starting in a new series of messages as we start to look at the letter to the Colossians. Every time a pastor starts a new year there is a great deal of prayer that goes into asking the Lord, "What is it that you want me to do with your people this year? On what should I focus? What should our priorities be this year?" Every year you hope you can arrive at a topic or a series of messages that will be relevant and helpful to the kinds of things that are relevant to the church as a whole. So I went through that process this year and to be completely honest with you -- I can't say that I experienced some great epiphany for us. Except that we need to continue to grow and we need more of Jesus. (no matter what catchy approach I might be able to dream up -- it's going to come back to those two issues anyway, right?)
How much have you grown in your walk with the Lord this past year?
If you were able to take a spiritual snapshot of where you were spiritually at this point in your life last year, would that snapshot look different right now? We now have cameras that take all kinds of wonderful pictures. We have camera's that take panoramic pictures. We have camera's that see in the dark. Firemen have camera's that are infrared and pick up subtle changes in temperature readings. If there was a camera that could take a picture of your spiritual growth, what would it look like? More importantly, if you were able to hold two pictures side by side: one from last year and one from today -- would you see a difference? What's you attitude towards spiritual growth? Are you satisfied that the measure of growth you obtained is satisfactory? or are you pressing forward to still higher ground? Are you still a babe in Christ or are you engaged in a process that is moving you towards maturity? Someone once said, "A baby is a digestive apparatus with a loud noise at one end and no responsibility on the other." Are you taking responsibility for spiritual growth?
When it comes to your walk with the Lord, how good is good enough for you? What is your goal in the Christian life? Is your goal to be the best believer you can be for the glory of God? Obviously, our Lord's desire is for us to continue to grow and mature in our faith for all the years God allows us to live. But, if we would be honest with the Lord, most of us would have to admit that our personal spiritual goals are not as ambitious as our Lord would like for them to be. We may be working hard to be a smart student, a wise parent, a successful businessperson, a scratch golfer or a hunter with a 14-point buck as a trophy on the wall. But are we exerting the same effort in growing in Christ-likeness? Isn't it interesting that we will often see the value at growing in those kinds of areas but not in our spiritual life? We'll make great investments in those areas, go to seminars, take additional classes, ready books - but oftentimes when it comes to spiritual growth we are very happy with the status quo? Why it that?
Have you ever thought about just how chaotic life would be if people with critical responsibilities did not always strive for perfection in their job? What if people employed in the medical profession considered 99.9 percent accuracy to be "good enough"? If nurses considered 99 percent to be good enough, 12 babies would be given to the wrong parents to take home every single day. If 99 percent was considered good enough by cardiologists 291 pacemaker operations would be performed incorrectly each and every day. If pharmacists were satisfied with 99 percent accuracy, 20,000 prescriptions would be filled incorrectly every day in this country. Obviously, mediocrity on the part of medical professionals can cause others to pay an unreasonably high price. Imagine a doctor doing an operation leaving an instrument inside of you of you after an operation: "Hey I got most of the instruments out." We don't accept mediocrity in any area of our life -- why would we accept it when it comes to our spiritual life? I know lots of folks who have gone back to school half or two thirds of the way through their working career because they wanted to grow in that area. But at the same time they put no real effort into stimulating growth in their spiritual life.
WARNING -- SUBSTITUTES FOR SPIRITUAL GROWTH:
1. Show up -- people who think it's good enough to just show up and fill a chair
2. Listen up -- people who think it's good enough to just come and listen to the preacher
3. Dress up -- people who think it's good enough to just put on fancy clothes for church
4. Pay up -- people who think, "I'll just give my tithes and let the pastor do all the work."
5. Get up -- people who respond to an altar call in emotionalism and think that's "it"
6. Talk it up --people who think it's good enough to just talk about God (no action).
7. Hold it up -- people who won't grow spiritually hold back the growth of the body!!
- when one part suffers, the whole body suffers...
Now on top of all this, I really think it is impossible to overstate the amount of attention spiritual growth is given in the Bible. Let me just throw a couple of passages up on the screen.
* Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (1 Peter 2:2-3)
* But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen. (2 Peter 3:18)
* In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! (Hebrews 5:12)
* We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing. (2 Thess. 1:3)
* When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. (1 Cor. 13:11)
* Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the head, that is, Christ. (Ephesians 4:15)
Ill. of the animated movie "UP" The whole movie is a metaphor of getting rid of the unneeded baggage in our lives and learning how to love someone else. In the movie a 78-year-old balloon salesman named Carl decides to chase after a lifelong dream of seeing the wilds of South America after his wife dies. Now he's going to do that by tying thousands of balloons to his house and flying there. His journey is complicated however when an eight-year-old inadvertently becomes a stowaway on the trip. One great scene in the movie is when Russell, the stowaway, is in trouble and needs immediate help. Carl can't help him, because his balloons have lost their ability to lift his house. Carl makes the painful decision to frantically throw out the prized and treasured relics in the house to lighten its weight. He could only help someone else when he lost some of the baggage he was holding carrying in his house. That's the way it is with us. The way we increase our spiritual effectiveness is loosing the baggage we sometimes want to hang on to. Make UP the direction of your spiritual life this year.
Context: Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother
The book starts by the author introducing himself and telling us who is with him when he writes the letter. Paul tells us three things in his introduction.
* Who he is.
He says, I am Paul -- We're familiar with who he is. A unique man who was Jewish by his ancestry and yet he was a Roman citizen by birth and possessed a combined culture of the Greek and the Jew gained from rearing in Greek culture in Tarsus and the training by Jewish teachers, such as Gamaliel. He even became a Pharisee. Every experience in life equipped him to be uniquely qualified to do what God had ordained for him to do.
* Who is with him.
Timothy - Timothy's an interesting character. Paul had a unique love for Timothy. He eventually becomes the pastor of the church in Ephesus. Paul was his mentor and trainer, getting him ready for that assignment. Timothy was this very delicate, frequently sick, timid, hesitant, always in need of encouragement -- kind of a delicate guy. He couldn't be any more opposite from the guy who was training him.
* What his life is all about.
I am apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God - Why an apostle? --Well, it states his authority. He's not writing a letter that is giving his opinion. He represents authority and power. But it also defines his purpose: Apostle means - a person who was sent by Jesus In those days there were a type of boat that were called apostolic ships. The word is found in maritime language referring to ordinary cargo ships, taking goods from one place to another. Those kinds of ships were not cruise ships for a person taking a vacation. They were cargo ships. In the same way, Paul's life was not about entertainment. His life was about getting the cargo of the good news -- dropping it off at one place and then going to another place and dropping it off there. Why did Paul do that? Because it was the will of God.
Who Is He Writing To?
- To God's holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
Most other modern translations will substitute the word "saint" where the NIV uses the word "holy" "To the saints and faithful brothers" It's kind of interesting -- I would expect him to say "to the church at Colossi." but instead he says this letter is to those who are holy and faithful. He's not writing to the people who attend church in Colossi -- he's writing to those who are the Church. There's a big difference. You're all attending church this morning -- but some of you are the church -- the holy and the faithful ones. Holy simply means set apart. You know what a Christian is? He's holy. That does not make, necessarily, an ethical or moral statement about him; it simply says he has been set apart from the world of ordinary people to belong to God. Now that's what God has done in your life -- he has made you saintly- (holy) He has set you apart for himself. That's his part -- the second word here (faithful) that's your part. As he has set us apart for himself -- he wants us to be faithful to that calling. Growth requires God doing his part and us doing our part.
What do we know about Colossae?
Well, one of the interesting things about this letter is that is written to a church that Paul never visited. Colossae was a city located about 100 miles from Ephesus. On Paul's third missionary journey, he went to Ephesus and stayed there for somewhere around three years. Ephesus was kind of a center city in Asia Minor. During the three years that he was in Ephesus, he never visited Colossae, as far as we know, but people started coming to him from all over Asia Minor. And during those three years the church at Ephesus was founded, and all seven churches of Revelation 2 and 3 were founded, you have Ephesus, Laodicea, Smyrna, Philadelphia, Pergamum, Thyatira - all of those churches were founded during that time and so was the church in Colossae. Sometime during his stay a fellow by the name of Epaphras comes to Paul from Colossae. We'll meet him later as we go through this book. Paul counsels him and he goes back to Colossae and becomes pastor of the church of believers there.
Paul now has finished up his three years at Ephesus. He spent a winter in Greece writing, and then he started back to Jerusalem. He gathered the collections to take to the poor saints, went all the way back to Jerusalem. He arrived at Jerusalem, and you remember the terrible trouble that happened? They threw him in jail. The next thing you knew he wound up in Caesarea in jail. He pleaded his case to Caesar and they shipped him off to Rome. So now he's in Rome and he's a prisoner, but as a prisoner he has liberty for people to visit him. So, in the Roman confinement, chained to a soldier, Epaphras arrives from Colossae and tells him about the Colossians and out of that comes this letter.
Why Does He Write This Letter?
Epaphras is a pastor with a problem. He makes a trip of 1300 miles from Colossae to Rome to meet with Paul because he has a serious issue on which he needs counsel. That's a pretty serious trip, right? Particularly during those times. He has a congregation made up primarily by Gentiles (plus a smattering of Jews) and he is really worried. What's he worried about? He says, the people are just great -- they are wonderful. But there was still an imminent danger they were facing.
Two Issues Epaphras Was Facing:
* The Constant Pressure of a Corrupt Culture.
Those people were living on the verge of paganism all the time. You know, in that one region, historians tell us that the deities such as Cybele, Men, Issus, Serapis, Helios, Selene, Demeter and Artimus dominated the worship of the people. I mean, there were gods, you know, ad nauseam ... plenty of them. And most of these gods were fertility gods -- and the culture was filled with constant exposure to the sensual. The culture was engrossed in pornography. And the basic evil that faced that church was a relapse into this. For the most part, they were new Christians and the pull of the old darkness and the sensuality of the old life was strong. This was by far primarily a Gentile Church -- so this was the only life they've ever known. So the pull of returning back to that corrupt culture, which was the only thing they'd ever known, was powerful and they had to fight against it.
Have you ever noticed that in your life? I notice that with new Christians. I notice it with myself. William Hendriksen, calls this "The Cable of the Past." Life is like a cable, habits makes cables. A person weaves a thread everyday until it becomes an unbreakable cable ... and then you can't cut it, and the cable of the past tends to pull. And there was the environment of the present that they were living in, it was hard to row against the current. So they had this undertow of a corrupt culture pulling them. And so, Paul's telling them -- Don't go back -- don't let the pollution of the culture pull you back into those old habits.
In 1:23 he says: "if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel." I don't want you to go back, stay in there, hang in there. In 2:6-7 he says: "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught" You've received Christ, keep on walking in Him. Chapter 3:2, "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." Don't go back that way. Paul sees the world and the flesh pulling them & pulling them and he wants to strengthen them. He says that to them and he says that to you.
* The Unrelenting Attacks of Satan Upon the Church.
The world and the flesh pulls and so does Satan, and while the vice, the world and the flesh, pulls the body, Satan pulls the mind. Satan is disguised as an angel of light and so here they've got vice pulling their...their lust, the lust of their body, and they've got false doctrine pulling their minds. Satan came in and sowed his false doctrine. And that becomes the real heartbeat of Paul's writing to counteract false doctrine. It came by way of people buying into the latest intellectual answer to the problems of this life. The Greeks were great philosophers and many just loved to immerse themselves into the study of ideas and philosophy. They gloated over what they knew, and the higher you got in knowledge and the more difficult you were to understand, and the further you got spaced out with strange, weird man-centered ideas, the more snobbish you became. They became arrogant and critical of those poor naïve, ill-informed Christians who believe the Bible is God's Word of Truth. These people came to the Church with an air of superior intellect and greater enlightenment and they speak with such authority. Christians are called to walk in humility -- but these people came trying to impress others. And Paul warns them about that: "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy which depends on human traditions and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. (Col. 2:8) Satan is always attacking the trustworthiness of God's Word. He's always trying to undermine the work of the Church.
- Ill. of attending a meeting this past week of pastors from throughout in the State of Connecticut. It was called to address the relentless legislative attacks that are coming upon the Church in our state from liberal politicians who are intent on stripping churches in the state from having any influence whatsoever. Don't think they're not effective -- they are. They've already redefined marriage -- not by vote of the population -- not through a democratic process -- but by four liberal justices through judicial fiat declaring that traditional marriage between a man and a woman "has no rational basis." Never mind thousands of years of cultural precedent. Never mind the fact that outside of this new enlightened definition of marriage - never in the history of mankind has marriage ever been recognized as anything other than a union between man and woman. The decision established in law the principle that marriage has nothing to do with either procreation or the raising of children. In 2009 a bill was introduced attempting define how churches should govern themselves. HB1098 attempted to define what a pastor can do and what he can't do while leading his church. You tell me what right the state has to dictate how we conduct ministry! In this bill the state was attempting to intrude and control the way we operate our church. There have been other bills introduced attempting to strip us of religious liberty. These people see religious liberty as something that the state grants by civil authority rather than a God-given right that the state must acknowledge. They don't mind if we worship -- as long as it's done exclusively within the walls of the building -- but not one inch outside of it. They don't mind if we do church -- as long as we do church their way. They are trying in every way to strip away our ability to impact the culture in which we live. And they keep chipping away at it in every way they can. If one approach doesn't work they come back again and try something a little different from another angle.
Let me tell you folks -- the battle is heated. Epaphras faced it in his day and we're going to face it in ours. Don't think for a moment we can sit back and thank God we've got it so easy. That's exactly the mentality the enemy wants you to adopt. "Stay nice and quiet in your little corner of the state and don't worry about a thing." To be honest I think this is one of the most dangerous places I've ever ministered. It's dangerous because of how we define ourselves. "This is the Quiet Corner of Connecticut. It's quiet and we like to keep it that way." Now I'm all for living a nice, stable, orderly life- but the problem with focusing on the quietness of our area is that sometimes we fail to recognize there is a great battle going on for the souls of men and women. When you minister in a more urban area -- the battle is more up-in-your-face everyday. You can't escape it. Issues dealing with social justice, sinfulness, poverty, brokenness -- it all just surrounds you. You can't get away from it. You fight the battle morning to dusk. But I'll tell you, it's easy to get people to understand the rationale for personal sacrifice. It's easier to get people to understand why you can't ever compromise with the priority of making disciples. If you're not engaged in active ministry -- you see lost souls falling all around you. You have to be trained and train others. You have to fight. You have to stick to your commitments. The worry I have is that we don't always have the mentality of a soldier who is standing on the front line of a fierce battle. I worry that the comfort level is so high that the saints have fallen asleep.
* Understand The Comprehensive Sufficiency Of Jesus Christ.
When Paul wrote to the Colossians -- what he wants to do is remind them of how much they already have in Jesus. What was happening is that there were people who were glad they had Jesus -- but wanted more of something else. And they kept trying to drag the church into accepting something in addition to Jesus. The simple Gospel was not enough. what they were saying was, "Jesus is great! but what we need is Jesus and ____ (fill in the blank) And you kind of get the impression that this was just coming at Epaphras from a number of different angles. There are all kinds of formulas that are being thrown at him. One guy comes pretending to have seen a vision, and he comes and says -- "I have seen a vision...I have seen the supernatural" - and he assumes an air of deep insight into divinely revealed mysteries - And he prides himself on his superior knowledge into what he thinks the Church needs. For him it's Jesus plus an experience. There is another guy that comes along and he says, "I know what the Church needs. What the Church needs is to get back to the way we used to do it in the Old Testament. We've got to get back to old traditions and the old the festivals and the old holidays. Jesus is great, but we need to do things the way we used to them." For him it's Jesus plus Jewish tradition. Paul says those things were shadow of things to come. What do you need with the shadow when the One who cast the shadow is here? Another one comes and he says, "Look I know all about Jesus but have you considered the new way of thinking? And he's all puffed up because he things he knows something no one else knows. And he's got some new philosophical approach that he tries to drag into the church. For him it's Jesus plus knowledge.
The problem with all those things is none of them can save you. Experience can't save you. Tradition can't save you. Philosophy can't save you. Jesus can. They can't deliver you -- Can't heal you -- can't set you free -- Can't fulfill you - but Jesus can. We don't need anything else but Jesus. He is sufficient. He is supreme. He's enough. In fact, He's more than enough. The problem with each of those issues is that there is a subtle attack at the deity of Christ. The theme of this letter is Jesus is God. And that's what culture and Satan was raging against - then and now. All this hodgepodge is concerted to attack the sufficiency of what has been completed for you in Christ. Oh my loved ones- if you could only get a handle on that.
Look at what Paul says,
We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. (Col. 1:28)
We proclaim Jesus -- as we proclaim him we admonish (that means to correct error) we teach (that means we instruct with proper training) and we do it in accordance to the God's wisdom and not man's and as we help people to understand who Jesus is and what he accomplishes in our lives we are able to present everyone before the throne of God fully mature.
- Some of you might be here today because you are thinking perhaps today Jesus will give you something. You don't need Jesus to give you anything -- you just need more of Jesus. You need to grow more in your walk with Jesus. What you need to understand is how much you already have in Jesus and how he is comprehensively sufficient for the needs in your life. "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want" - Do you believe that? "My grace is sufficient for you" -- Do you believe that? Read verses 1:15-23. What more could you want than Jesus?
If you have Jesus you have everything you need. there is no such thing as an incomplete or deficient Christian.
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. (2 Peter 1:3)
Nothing you find anywhere else is going to augment what Jesus can do for you. If you posses Christ you have every resource you will ever need. All strength, wisdom, comfort, joy, peace meaning, value, purpose, hope and fulfillment in life now and forever is bound up in Him. and in Him alone.
Ill of people who come with problems -- I want you know that this is where I am. And over there is where I want to be. Now How do I get there? The answer is, always has been and always will be Christ. The average Christian in our culture cynically views that kind of counsel as simplistic, unsophisticated and naive.
If Jesus isn't enough -- when did it change?
Ill. I read a story this week written by a pastor who was invited to do a series of sermons in several churches in North and South Carolina. He was staying in a town called Asheville but speaking in a church in Greenville, South Carolina, which was several hours from his host. He had flown into the area and didn't have a personal car. Some friends from the church in which he was speaking offered to come pick up -- take him to their church -- and then bring him back after he was done. He told his host he hoped to be back around midnight. So he gets done speaking and after lingering awhile with the cookies and coffee, they drive him back . When they back, before his riders drove up the long drive way he saw the porch light on. And suggested they just let him hop out and he'd walk up and that they could head back. "I'm sure they're prepared for me -- you go ahead and head back." So they take off and he walks up the long driveway. By the time he gets to the door his nose and hands were already numb because it was a frigid, cold night. He gets to the door and gently raps on the door. Not answer. He tapped a little louder, still no answer. Finally concerned about the intense cold, he beat on the kitchen door and on a side window. But there was still no response.
Frustrated and becoming colder by the moment he decided to walk to a neighboring house so he could call and awaken his hosts. On the way he realized that knocking on someone's door after midnight wasn't a safe thing to do so he decided to find a public telephone. It was as dark as it was cold and the pastor wasn't familiar with the area. Consequently he walked for several miles. At one point he slipped in the wet grass beside the road and slid down a bank into two feet of water. Soaked and nearly frozen he crawled back up to the road and walked further till he could see a blinking motel light. The awakened the motel manager who graciously let him use a phone. "I hate to disturb you but I couldn't get anyone in the house to wake up. I'm several miles down the road at the motel can you come and get me?" The host replied, "My dear friend, you have a key in your overcoat pocket. -- Don't you remember? I gave it to you before you left." The pastor reached into his pocket, sure enough there was the key.
CLOSE: I don't know the area in which you need to grow this year. But I guarantee, If you really want to see change and growth -- Jesus is the key. His grace is sufficient. Growth is really about pursuing Jesus. It's about loving the Lord with all your heart soul mind and strength. Learning more about him and having his word so fill your heart that you respond to every situation the way that Jesus would respond.
I want to challenge you to grow. Grow in his grace. Grow in your knowledge of Him.
Define one area of your spiritual life in which you want to see growth. If you can't figure out what that is, turn to the person next you and ask them what it should be. But begin with the end in mind. Change something in your routine. Start attending Sunday School. Growth takes place best in an environment of togetherness. Start praying about that area. Start searching God's Word. Get godly counsel. But decide to GROW.
