[Statements in brackets are for the preacher not the preaching. These notes express ideas based on the homiletics recommended in "Preach with No Pants" (https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/preach-with-no-pants-john-allen-sermon-on-inductive-250167) which proposes an inductive-deductive outline with five points: Trip, Tension, Twist, Truth, Triumph.]
[EXEGETICAL IDEA: Paul thanks God for the Colossians' faith, love, and hope which they have because of their reception of the gospel through Epaphras.]
[HOMILETICAL IDEA: The gospel supernaturally changes you.
These verses, part of the customary greeting of the time, highlight specifics Paul thought significant with the Colossians. Obviously, we should have the same virtues today, but it's not enough to make every sermon say: "You should be something or do something." Consequently, this homiletical idea is based on the Twist.]
[TWIST: The gospel makes real changes in you.
Or, the gospel changes who you are and how you live your life.
Or, the gospel makes positional and experiential changes.
The most startling idea in my mind is the expected, necessary, even inevitable effect of the gospel on a person. That impact first is positional but should also overflow into an experiential. The contrary idea would be, "I prayed the prayer to accept Jesus, but nothing in my life is different."]
[TRIP—Upset: Are you really a Christian?]
Someone walking down the sidewalk one day stopped in front of a funeral home. A sign in the window said, "Why walk around half dead? We can bury you for $2000." Probably no one here will jump at the offer. Some of you might say, "But I know of someone..."
We don't like to talk about death or even to think about it. But at the end of our life on earth we face a huge question. Like many Christians, you may wonder, "Am I really saved from sin and on my way to heaven or do I just think I am?"
If you are sure of your salvation, you may wonder, "Am I really living for the Lord? I don't have that abundant life he said I should have."
[TENSION—Provoking the Questions, Opposites of the Truth]
A pastor friend of mine has heard more than once, "I just hope I've believed enough or done enough." That's one of the saddest things I've ever heard because he heard it at the bedside of dying church members.
Someone might say, "Well, sure I believe, but so does the devil! Remember what it says in James (2:19)?"
You believe that God is one; well and good.
Even the demons believe that—and tremble with fear.
Some of you may say, "To be honest, lately my heart is filled with a lot more anger than love." Or you might finish most days feeling hopeless, discouraged, like God is no where to be found, especially not in your life. "He is real, but he doesn't seem very real in my life."
Maybe you're feeling spiritually dry. You have no sense of the Lord's presence. You might even be actively serving the Lord, doing good ministry. But inside you feel empty. "If Jesus promised abundant life, why don't I have it?"
Where is that abundant life Jesus promised to give us?
[TWIST—The Most Startling Idea]
First, realize that "abundant life" is not either/or but more or less. It's not a matter of having it or not, it's having more or less of it. So the real question is, How do I get more of that abundant life, enough to feel it?
I have good news and bad news. The bad news is, it's a little bit out of your control. The good news it, the first step is supernatural. The first step has God's supernatural power behind it! It depends on God performing a MIRACLE ON YOU!
[TRUTH—Preaching the Bible's Solution]
Turn to Colossians 1:1 where Paul describes that miracle. If the book of Colossians tells us the secret to the abundant life, this is the gate, the dawning, the beginning step of that journey into the abundant life that Jesus promised us.
[Read 1:1-8.]
Can you name the person who brought you the gospel? Will there be some in heaven that will name you as that special person? So who is Epaphras? Acts 19:9-10 says when Paul was kicked out of the synagogue in Ephesus, he left them and took the disciples with him, addressing them every day in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all who lived in the province of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord. Colosse was about 100 miles east of Ephesus, and Epaphras evidently traveled to Ephesus, heard Paul speak, and then went back and started churches in the three sister cities, Laodicea, Hierapolis, and Colosse.
Let me tell you the good news of these verses. If you are a genuine believer, at some point in your life, "you have heard about the message of truth, the gospel...and understood the grace of God in truth," verses 5-6. In other words, you accepted the ABC's of salvation: you acknowledged your sin, you believed Jesus paid your penalty on the cross, and you confessed it, asking God to make you his child.
What that means is, you have taken the first step into the abundant life. Here's how you can know: the gospel changes you supernaturally. You have not changed yourself. The gospel changes you. God changes you.
Let's look closer. Like the standard letter of the time, Paul begins with a thankful greeting. By the way, that's a great idea, isn't it? Do that this week: Begin everything with thanks. I guarantee that your mood will change, your life will change, your brain will even change—they've proved it with brain scans!
In verse 4 the first thing Paul was thankful for was their "faith in Christ Jesus." Let's clear up, once and for all, how you can be sure this is not the same as the belief that the demons have. The Greek NT has fewer than 6000 words. We have inherited in the English language over one million! The Greek has one word for believe, 'pisteuo.' We are blessed to have for that one Greek word at least three words: belief, trust, and faith.
The word "believe" by itself in both Greek and English means "to accept as true." That is the meaning James uses regarding demons. But the word "faith" is more like our word "trust," which means "to put your confidence in." Someone likened salvation to moving all of your weight from one chair to another, from the chair of "Hopefully Good Enough" to "Jesus Christ and him alone."
So since the Greek has only one word, what's our clue for the difference in the Bible, "accept as true" or "trust"? It's that little preposition "in," 'ev' in the Greek. The Bible says, "Believe IN the Lord Jesus and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31). But the demons just believe truth about God. They "accept as true" that "God is one." But they are certainly not trusting God.
Before we look at how the gospel changes us supernaturally, please consider the power of the gospel. Take a look at verse 6. All over the world the gospel is doing something independent of you. "Fruit" in the Bible can refer to numbers of converts. But look at it here, growing and bearing fruit like a plant or a tree grows and bears fruit. You are the fruit not the plant. The gospel is not some doctrine you decided "to accept as true." It is something you vitally connect yourself to and it does something in you that you cannot do yourself.
Remember Paul saying in Romans 1:16, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God’s POWER for salvation..." And the simple words of the gospel have power to changes one's eternal destiny! It has power because the God who created this universe out of NOTHING has power, power to raise you from the dead.
I had a friend involved with high-powered sound systems in cars, ones where they replace the back seat with speakers and fill the trunk with amplifiers and sub-woofers. Do you know they have competitions for that, basically to see who has the loudest speakers. I said, "Doesn't it get a little too loud for people?" He said, "Oh, no, no one gets inside the car. It would break their ear drums."
That's sort of like it is when you "use words" to tell a friend about how Jesus paid our penalty for sin on the cross. The words you speak don't seem that big. But in the spiritual realm God amplifies that so much that the stubborn pride, the arguments and pretensions set up against the knowledge of God (2 Cor 10:3-5) are smashed. We can't really see that heart-breaking event going on in the spiritual realm.
So what does the gospel's change look like in your life and mine? Look at verse 5. The first change is that you love "all the saints." Someone is going to say, "Okay, does 'all' really mean 'all'? I agree with the old ditty."
To live above
With saints in love,
Oh, that will be glory.
But to live below
With saints I know,
Well, that's another story.
We can't squirm out of it. Remember Jesus, the night before he was arrested and executed, said to his closest companions, "I have one last command I want you to follow: Love one another and love like I have loved."
Poet Robert Frost said, "Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in." I say, "Church is the place you go, and they have to love you, because Jesus commanded it!" Haven't you felt it? The love we have for one another is something far deeper than family or friendship. Of course, you won't feel it if you block love, if it's dammed up by unforgiveness or some other sin.
Next, verse 5 says that faith and love come from our hope of heaven. Don't you like how Peter puts it (1 Peter 1:3-9).
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he gave us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, that is, into an inheritance imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. It is reserved in heaven for you, who by God’s power are protected through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. This brings you great joy, although you may have to suffer for a short time in various trials. Such trials show the proven character of your faith, which is much more valuable than gold—gold that is tested by fire, even though it is passing away—and will bring praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. You have not seen him, but you love him. You do not see him now but you believe in him, and so you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, because you are attaining the goal of your faith—the salvation of your souls.
Someone said, "There is no worse death than the end of hope." Just think, we possess the hope of the best future imaginable and it's forever! Most people hope for a better life. Ours will last forever and is beyond imagination (1 Cor 2:9)!
Would you also note that hope in the Bible is not the same as hope in the world. In the world it is more often wishful thinking. Ours is confident certainty. It's the difference between 1% and 100%.
After all this, you might be thinking, "Okay, even if I have salvation positionally, I still don't have abundant life mentally and emotionally." That's what this book of Colossians will show us. This is just the first step. In fact, Paul will reveal the secret to us before the end of this first chapter.
[TRIUMPH—The Nugget of Truth]
If you have not responded to the gospel, let me share what I like to call the 5K (as in the race) story of the Bible. I'm using the "k" sound though, the letters are "c"s: Creation, Curse, Cradle, Cross, Coming. God created a paradise. We said to God in Genesis 3, "You're not the boss of me." God applied the curse of sin. But he loved us too much not to do something about it, so he came into the world as a baby in a cradle. On the cross he paid the penalty of our sin and proved it by his resurrection. Finally, he is coming again as the king of kings. Believe it, trust him, and ask him to make you his child.
If you have this great salvation but don't feel it, start with thanksgiving this week. Sing the old chorus about a hundred times.
Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul.
Thank you, Lord, for making me whole.
Thank you, Lord, for giving to me
Thy great salvation so rich and free.
Thank God for the gospel that has changed you.
(Unless otherwise noted, Scripture is from the NET Bible.)
