Colossians 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2 To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,
4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints—
Intro to Colossae
We don't know when it was founded, but it was already in existence in the days of Xerxes, 500 BC, the king during Esther's time. So, it was an old city.
It was located about a hundred miles from Ephesus, in present day Turkey.
Lycus and Meander rivers, right in that little valley, three important cities grew. One was called Hierapolis, the other was called Laodicea and the third was called Colossae.
area was known for two earthquakes. Earthquakes destroyed Laodicea many times.
by 400 A.D.... 400 years after Christ ... Colossae no longer existed...totally out of existence. And in the day of Paul it was a nothing place, it was totally insignificant. It was on the way down to its extinction.
The People of Colossae:
1. They had a good start.
Not a famous city, a very insignificant one. How did the church get started there? Well, let me give you just a quick look at that. On Paul's third missionary journey, he went to Ephesus. Ephesus was a great center of Asia Minor. And Paul went there on his third journey and he stayed there for three years. Remember?
Paul never visited Colossae, as far as we know, but people started coming to him from all over Asia Minor.
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 and so was the church in Hierapolis? They were all outgrowths of Paul's ministry on his third missionary journey, as he ministered there.
• The Gospel had filled the whole area… This is the way the Gospel spread. The Gospel spread in such a powerful way that it filtered out from the cities to the countryside and region surrounding.
In Acts chapter 19, verse 10, it says, and this is part of his ministry there in Ephesus, "And is continued for the space of two years," this was the first part of it, "so that all they who dwelt in Asia," that's Asia Minor, a province, "all that dwelled in Asia Minor heard the word of the Lord Jesus both Jews and Greeks." Verse 26, when they wanted to throw him out, they said, "Morever you see and hear that not alone in Ephesus but almost throughout all Asia Minor, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people saying, They are no gods which are made with hands." So, it is the comment of Luke in verse 10 and it is the comment of his persecutors in verse 26 that his gospel had filled the whole of Asia Minor. From the vantage point of Ephesus, people would come hear the gospel and go back.
The gospel spread in such a great way that it was impacting the whole region. We are strategic… we are in a city, it is imperative that we work and pray hard that Christ will help us to impact the culture of our city.
Wouldn’t it be amazing if we worked in such a way that churches and Bible studies started springing up in people’s homes in Mustang, Midwest City, Tuttle, El Reno, Norman, Piedmont, Yukon? Then Stillwater, Cushing, Paul’s Valley, and more? Wouldn’t it be amazing if someone felt the Spirit speaking to them to go and plant churches in those places?
Wouldn’t it be incredible if the owners of porn stores, the drug dealers and the gang leaders of Oklahoma City got together and said this about us? Almost throughout all of Central Oklahoma, that Bible Methodist Church has done the terrible deed of dampening our business! Let’s go after them!
All because some people came here and heard the Gospel. Then they went back home and said, “We need this where I come from.”
That’s what happened here:
From Colossae came a group of people ... Epaphras, Philemon, Apphia, Archippus. From Laodicea came Nymphas. All of them received Christ under the ministry of Paul, all of them went back to be used of God to begin churches. The most influential person in the beginning of those three churches in those cities was Epaphras.
2. They had elders that were committed & concerned.
If you look at chapter 4 of Colossians, and verse 12, you'll meet him. "Epaphras, who is one of you," see, he's a Colossian, "who is one of you, a servant of Christ, greets you." Epaphras had come to visit Paul from Colossae. So, he says he sends his greeting. He's always laboring fervently for you in prayers that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God ... what a dear guy ... for I bear him witness that he has a great deal for you -now watch - and them that are in Laodicea and them in Hierapolis. Apparently, Epaphras had been used to found all three churches. And what had happened was 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 to Rome.
And 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. A church he had never been to, as far as we know. A church he had not founded, but somewhere near 63 A.D., near the end of his imprisonment, Epaphras arrives, tells him about the church.... and incidentally, he gave a favorable report, we'll see that when we start looking at verses 3 and following. Paul says "We give thanks to God for you." I mean, it was a good report.
But, there was a danger there too. And that's really why Epaphras came. He was concerned. And we'll see what he was concerned about in just a moment.
So, he began. He began his letter as a result of the coming of Epaphras. But what did he have in mind? What did Epaphras tell him that made him write this thing? I mean, he didn't just sit down and ramble, he was speaking about something. What was it?
3. They had a spiritual danger.
They were in danger of being led astray. This is not Galatians, where Paul is just jumping in with both feet, completely ticked… this is more subtle, more preventive.
While it doesn’t specifically mention this in the first few verses, it’s a theme of the book, so we’ve got to hit it.
One hint of it is in the fact that Paul asserts his apostolic authority in the introduction. Some books, he doesn’t mention it.
1 & 2 Thessalonians - where he is so dear to the people
Philippians – he is so dear, they sent him money & he’s thanking them
Philemon – (written @ same time) he’s asking a favor, not asserting authority
Here, he takes his apostolic authority, because he has some things he must clear up.
The job of spiritual leadership is to shepherd the flock. It’s headship.
It’s not about control, it’s about protection. It’s the “get behind me” factor.
If you don’t follow spiritual authority, then you are opening yourself up to attack, and Paul knows this is true, so he’s reminding them that he has this authority.
Now, I’ll start with the non-controversial and move toward controversy:
• Children, if you don’t follow spiritual authority, you are opening yourself to deception and attack.
• Teens, you must – MUST – follow your spiritual authorities. Parents, teachers, elders. Your parents have been your protectors since you had to hold their hand to cross the street. They still are. When you were a kid, just because you didn’t see the dump truck coming, did not mean it will hit you any softer. In the world that you now live in, you still need your hand held on some choices. IF you shake off their advice, the dump truck WILL hit you. You are much stupider than you think you are.
• Wives, you must follow your spiritual authorities, or you are immediately open to attack. It’s as if your husband said, “Get behind me” because he saw a burgular in the house, and you didn’t see it, so you said, “What are you talking about? You can’t boss me around! I’m a big girl, I can think for myself.” Follow his leadership, submit to it, rejoice in it, relax in it.
• Everyone, you need to obey your elders.
Paul knows that they are facing some spiritual dangers, which they don’t even see. So before he warns them, he just gently reminds them that they are under his authority, that Christ has delegated to him, headship over them in the Church.
Here is a congregation of Gentiles, and they've got a smattering probably of Jewish believers maybe, just a very little and they've got a problem... there's a heresy that's beginning to creep into the congregation and Epaphras, their pastor, is really concerned. He makes a trip of a thousand to thirteen hundred miles, depending upon which way he took, to go to Rome and see Paul ... and he pours his heart out to Paul. He says, in effect, the people are super, Paul, but there's an imminent danger, there's a peril. And Paul writes to them and says, Hey, you are super people, but let me warn you about something. Further on you'll hear him say - Don't let anybody beguile you. It wasn't that they'd already been, it was that they were in danger of being beguiled. This is prevention.
Danger #1: Going back to the old life.
And the basic evil that faced that church was a relapse into paganism. For the most part, they were new Christians and the pull of the darkness and the sensuality of the old life was strong.
William Hendriksen, "The Cable of the Past." Life is like a cable, habit 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. (John MacArthur)
They are already “swimming upstream.”
And so, Paul's telling them - Don't go back... don't go back.
"If you continue in the faith, grounded and settled and be not moved away." 1:23
"As you have received Christ, keep on walking in Him." 2:6
"Set your affections on thing above, not on things on the earth." 3:2
Danger #2: Danger of false doctrine.
Satan had sent in false teachers… their doctrine is not really clear, we don’t have a definite historical record, but we can deduce some things from the statements that Paul makes against it:
Characteristics of the false doctrine:
• False philosophy
"Beware, lest any man spoil you-through philosophy and empty deceit." 2:8
The word “philosophy” means “love of wisdom.” There is a love of wisdom that is good. Then there is a love of wisdom which will lead you astray. There is the wisdom of God, which is expressed in Christ, & there is the wisdom of the world, which is expressed in control, power, prestige, pride, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, if it feels good, do it.
• Ascetisicm
Col. 2:16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.
17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ….
Col. 2:20 Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules:
21 "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"?
22 These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings.
23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
I won’t preach that sermon yet, but boy, that is true. You can’t make enough rules to kill desire. Desire has to be overcome by something greater.
So, the false teachers are saying, “Jesus, yes… but also rules and traditions. Jesus, plus calling fleshly drives wrong, and mistreating the body.”
This was probably an early form of Gnosticism.
• Distraction from Christ.
Colossians 2:18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions.
You don’t have to deny Jesus to be a false teacher, you just have to add to Him. You don’t have to say, “Jesus isn’t God,” just have to say, “Jesus isn’t enough.”
You don’t have to reject Him, you just have to add a focus on other things, and put other things up just as important as Jesus.
The simplicity of the Gospel… that’s not quite enough.
I have seen the supernatural - and he assumes an air of deep insight into divinely revealed mysteries, see. And he prides himself on his superior knowledge and this is what became later gnosticism, from gnosisto know... superior knowledge. It isn't gnosticism yet because gnosticism isn't really defined for many years after this, but here are the seeds of it, intellectual snobbery. Some¬ body was saying it isn't enough to know Jesus, you can't defeat the powers of the emanating demons, you can't crack the barriers to get to the divine realm by Jesus alone, you've got to have superior knowledge. And so, they were talking about weird philosophies, and they were intruding, verse 18 says, "Into things they had seen and their fleshly mind was being puffed up." Jesus isn't adequate. You see, Jesus, they believed, was one of the emanations.
Jesus is ENOUGH.
The story is told of the celebrated German sculptor, J. H. Von Donaker. Napoleon came to Von Donaker and he said: "I want you to make a statue of Venus for the Louvre in Paris," great gallery there. Von Donaker said, "No." An enormous sum of money was then offered to him by Napoleon. He still refused. The emperor angrily demanded the reason why, and this is Von Donaker's answer: "Sir, I have made a statue of Jesus Christ and I can never lower my chisel to carve an inferior subject." I like that.
Then he proceeded to tell a story, Von Donaker did. He said: "The first time I molded Christ, after two years of work, I uncovered the finished statue in the presence of my little girl. And I asked her, 'Who is that?' She clapped her hands in admiration and cried, 'It is certainly a great man.' And I smashed the statue and went to work again ... praying as much as I toiled. When I invited the girl again later to enter my studio, she went to the figure as if it were alive and said in awe, 'Oh, I know Him, He is the One who said, Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not.'"
NOTE: Some phrasing and was taken from John MacArthur’s sermon, Introduction to Colossians. For the full sermon: http://www.gty.org/Resources/Print/Sermons/2130
HANDOUT (Formatted for landscape page, 1/2 margins, 2 column.)
Colossians 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2 To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,
4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints—
Intro to Colossae
it was already in existence in the days of Xerxes, 500 BC, the king during Esther's time. So, it was an old city.
It was located about a hundred miles from Ephesus, in present day Turkey.
By 400 A.D Colossae no longer existed. And in the day of Paul it was insignificant, on the way to extinction.
The People of Colossae:
1. They had a ___________________________.
• Paul never visited Colossae, as far as we know, but people started coming to him from all over Asia Minor.
• 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 & Hierapolis
• The Gospel had filled the whole area… This is the way the Gospel spread. The Gospel spread in such a powerful way that it filtered out from the cities to the countryside and region surrounding.
Acts 19:9 But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.
10 This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.
Cities are _______________________________.
2. They had elders that were __________________ & _________________________.
Colossians 4:12 Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.
3. They had a _______________________________.
Hints of this:
• Paul asserts his apostolic ________________________.
The job of spiritual leadership is to shepherd the flock. It’s __________________________. It’s not about ______________________, it’s about ___________________________. It’s the “get behind me” factor.
If you don’t follow spiritual authority, then you are opening yourself up to ____________________.
Danger #1: Going _________________________________.
"If you continue in the faith, grounded and settled and be not moved away." 1:23
"As you have received Christ, keep on walking in Him." 2:6
"Set your affections on thing above, not on things on the earth." 3:2
Danger #2: Danger of ______________________________.
• False philosophy
"Beware, lest any man spoil you-through philosophy and empty deceit." 2:8
The word “philosophy” means “_________________________________.” There is a love of wisdom that is good. Then there is a love of wisdom which will lead you astray.
• Ascetisicm
Col. 2:16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.
17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ….
Col. 2:20 Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules:
21 "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"?
22 These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings.
23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
You can’t make enough _______________ to _______________________.
• ____________________________ from Christ.
Colossians 2:18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions.
The One Thing: Jesus is ____________________________.
