Above All: A Study in Colossians
Colossians 2:1-5
Pastor Jefferson M. Williams
Chenoa Baptist Church
5-08-202
Donna
Our friend Donna was raised in a strong, Jesus-loving house and church. She loved Jesus and thought she was firm in her faith. Until she ended up divorced. She sank into deep depression and really struggled to get back up on her feet.
Enter a couple in her neighborhood. They befriended her and took her in. They invited her to Bible study and did whatever she needed done around her house.
She started attending their church. She said that she was initially very uncomfortable with some of the things that they said and even sang, but they sounded like Christians most of the time and they loved her like no one had before.
She didn’t tell her mother on purpose for a while but it finally came out that she was attending a Mormon Church.
Did her mother go ballistic? No. Did her mother buy her a book to show how far the Mormon faith is from Christianity? No.
Do you want to know what she did? You’ll have to wait until the end of the sermon.
Review
Last week, we learned of Paul’s love for the Church.
We studied:
Paul’s Attitude: He rejoiced in being able to suffer for the Church’s that he loved
Paul’s Calling: He was commissioned by God to preach, admonish and teach the Word to the Gentiles
Paul’s Purpose; To make known the mystery, that Gentiles can be part of of the kingdom
Paul’s Energy: He worked to the point of physical exhaustion but Christ energized his ministry
From these verses we learned we are called to:
Suffer Physically
Serve Faithfully
Share the Mystery
Push the kingdom forward relentlessly
If you missed the sermon, you can always watch it on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, or our website.
Turn with me to Colossians 2:1.
Prayer
4. Paul’s Love for the Colossians (2:1-5)
Last week, we witnessed Paul’s love for the Churches in general. This week, Paul will be more specific and share his heart for the churches and believers in the Lycus Valley, particularly those in Colossae and Laodicea.
Paul’s Struggle (2:1-2a)
We affirm God’s people with love
I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally.…(Col 2:1)
Paul begins with the horizontal - his relationship with these believers. Paul loves them more in his absence than the false teacher do who are present among them.
He wanted them to know the intensity of his concern for them. He is contending for them. This word is where we get our English word “agony.” It can be translated, “I struggle very much indeed.” It’s a word used of Olympic athletes giving 110% at the games.
Paul is currently in prison in Ephesus, 100 miles east of Colossae but he felt the burden of their emotional and spiritual maturity.
He had lead Epaphras to Christ and Epaphras had started the church in Colossae. Paul felt like their spiritual grandfather.
Some time ago, my good friend Genie called me and started the conversation with, “Congratulations, you’re a spiritual grandpa!” I had the honor of being used by God to see Genie come to faith in Christ in college. She had been mentoring a young lady in her church and had seen her come to Christ that night, making me a spiritual grandfather!
Are you are spiritual grandparent?
Not just the believers at Colossae but also those at Laodicea, which was about 12 miles northwest of Colossae and to all who have not met Paul “face to face.”
Laodicea had surpassed Colossae in importance and was known for their financial institutions, textile industries, and medical centers.
Paul had written a letter to Laodicea that has been lost, but probably contained the same warnings against false teaching:
“After this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea.” (Col 4:16)
Paul doesn’t mention Hierapolis here but that was the third important city in the Lycus Valley that had a fledgling church.
How is Paul contending for them? The only way you can when ?you are 100 miles away and in a prison cell - through prayer.
My father-in-law Patrick lives 662 miles from me but he prays for me every morning.
Elnor has arthritis and can do little for her herself. But what she can do is pray. And pray she does, for friends and family, for the nurses and aides, even for the custodians.
Richard Foster, in his classic book on prayer, writes:
“If we truly love people, we will desire for them far more than it is in our power to give them, and this will lead us to prayer. Praying for others is a way of loving others.”
Paul loved these believers and wrestled in prayer for them. If you remember the sermon from last month, where we looked at the verses in Colossians that was Paul’s pray for them, he focused on the item individually.
We have the privilege of partnering with others in praying for each other. And what do we pray?
More good deeds
Deeper Understanding of God
Empowerment from God to walk worthy
Thankfulness in their lives.
Pastor Jim Moody states: "The most powerful thing anyone can do for someone else is to pray for them, because through prayer you and I can touch the heart of God who in turn can touch anyone, anywhere regardless of circumstances. The power is not in the prayer itself, but in the power that God releases in response to the prayer.”
Paul wasn’t the only one praying for these believers:
“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.” (Col 4:12)
We know from the letter to Philemon that Epaphras was a fellow prisoner with Paul (Philemon 1:23)
Here in chapter two, we see that Paul’s prayer is focused on the Colossian and Laodicean churches. These are believers that he has never met and they have never seen him face to face.
Point to Ponder: We need to get out of our comfort zones and expand our ministry of prayer. Maybe you need to find someone you don’t know and ask what you could pray for them about this week? We can be praying for believers in the Ukraine.
B. Paul’s Goal
We anchor God’s people in the truth (2:2-3)
“My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (2b-3)
What is praying for? What do pastors and ministry leaders pray for their church?
encouraged in heart
The word “encouraged” may be translated “comforted” or “strengthened” in your translation. It’s the same word that is used to describe the Holy Spirit.
Listen church, we all need comfort and encouragement.
In his second letter to the Corinthian Christians, Paul makes this clear:
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” (2 Cor 1:3)
In the past few months, we’ve had two funerals here at CBC, Les Stevens and Duane Henrichs. This was very hard on the families, Cheryl and Debra in particular. But I’ve watched this church love them both by attending the celebration of life, by helping with the dinner after the service, by giving, praying, hugging, and comforting the families. Both families were impressed with the amount of comfort extended toward them. I got the chance to simply say, “It’s just the church being the church.”
Truett Cathy, founder of Chik-Fil-A, once said, “No one ever died from too much encouragement.”
I had the honor of officiating Brittany and Ryan’s wedding last night. It was so fun! And Maxine loved it!
She was asked by one man if she was my daughter and another person asked if she was the bride’s sister-in-law sister!
Me? A man I hadn’t seen in a long time hugged me and said, “You gained a lot of weight…but you still waddle.”
Paul wrote to the believers in Thessalonica:
“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up…” (I Thes 5:11)
Last week, Bev Schieler had made it out the door but came back into the church specifically to tell me how much she appreciated the sermon.
Every Sunday afternoon, I get a text from one of our deacons encouraging me by telling me how much the sermon meant to them.
At the Wednesday morning Bible study, one of our group shared something that they were embarrassed to share but they were proud they had done it on their own. Our group actually broke out into applause!
Why do you think that sports teams have cheerleaders? Because the get tired, they get discouraged, like we do. We need people in our lives that encourage us, that “spur us on toward love and good deeds.” (Hebrews 10:24)
In our day, the heart is seen as the seat of emotions. But in Paul’s culture, the heart was the center of the will and decision making.
We must be willing to encourage others to make decisions based on the Bible and God’s will and ways.
Point to Ponder: Who have comforted in the past week? Who have you encouraged?
united in love
A father was in his study reading and he could hear his children outside playing with their friends. He couldn’t hear everything but he smiled when he heard them sing Amazing Grace. But then he heard yelling, “Pews…Chairs.” Then it sounded like they were actually fighting so he opened the window to find his daughter on top of a boy choking him. He told her to stop and get off of him. The boy replied, “But sir, it’s okay, we’re just playing church.”
The word united literally means knit together.
What does a church being united in love look like? Acts 2 paints us a beautiful picture:
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:42-47)
Paul writes the same thing to the believers at Philippi:
“Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.” (Phil 2:1-2)
Do remember that Paul described himself as a “servant,” the same word where we get the term “deacon?”
Let me tell you about the love our deacons have for this church.
Ken Albrecht works quietly behind the scenes. You might find him cutting Debra’s grass or making food for someone who has been in the hospital. He is so excited about the next widow’s dinner because he saw how encouraging it was to those who attended.
Angel Rabey is an encourager and works selflessly around here to serve. She comes to meetings tired and not having eaten dinner. She has spent hours working with our finances. Her encouraging spirit while leading us in worship through singing is infectious.
Colleen Evans is an energizing bunny! Take last week. She put together the entire mother’s day gifts table and then take plants to mothers that weren’t here. She was the team leader for the windows dinner. She was the team lead for the Make it Take It events. Why? Because she loves this church and wants to encourage others.
Rich Maier is the definition of generosity and service. Whether he is preaching, teaching, picking Debra up, or helping me with a project, Rich is always in service mode.
Les Roberts was late to the Bible study the other day because he had taken Bev to the hospital to see Chuck. Les does so much around here that no one knows about. He makes sure everything works and quietly fixes anything broken. He brings a lifetime of service to the deacon board.
Beth is a master encourager. Maxine and I get an encouraging text from her every morning and we aren’t the only ones. She shepherds people well and is also looking for ways to support and be generous to others.
I’m thankful for our leadership team here at CBC and I believe they set the tone for the rest of the flock.
Jesus prayed for us “to be one as He and His Father are one.” (See John 17)
We are one positionally but we have to work to be one practically and that comes through love.
I wonder if when people go through membership class they should repeat the vows I use at weddings?
Will you take these fellow Christians to be your church family, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for or worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do you part?
Point to Ponder: When a church is united in love, the “na-na” quiets down because we aren’t willing to risk messing up what God wants to do by being petty, divisive, and gossipy. Are you contributing to the unity of the church by loving others? Pick one person to love in a concrete way this week.
Paul prayed that the Colossian believers’ hearts would be encouraged and that they would be united in love. Why?
So that they
may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
John Piper says it this way:
“…the riches of assured understanding and knowledge of God's mystery, and the treasures of Christ's wisdom come into the heads of those whose hearts are knit together in love.”
Paul is praying that that they would be a people that would be committed to the Scriptures.
He wants them to understand that they don’t need anything else but Jesus. The false teachers were telling them that they needed to go the next step, learn the secret ways, obtain knowledge beyond Christ.
Paul prays for complete confidence, full assurance that their treasure is in understanding the mystery of God, namely Christ and Christ alone. Paul affirms the deity and sufficiency of Jesus, something the false teachers were attacking.
As we learned last week, the “mystery” the fact that Gentiles were to be included in God’s kingdom! But here Paul used the word mystery to mean the revelation of Jesus Christ as God.
Pastors pray that their flock would read (or listen) to the Bible every day, not to check off a box or win brownie points with God but to hear His voice speak through His Scriptures.
It’s only through the living Word, Jesus, and the written Word, The Bible that we can understand God’s divine will and plan for us.
And we don’t read it to be puffed up and show how much we know. It’s more like a treasure hunt.
We were laying on a beach in Florida and spent about an hour watching a guy with a metal detector. He walked slowly, patiently, methodically back and forth across the beach. Every once and while the machine would be beep and he would kneel down and gently move the sand away until he finds treasure.
In getting to know Christ through the Word allows us to mine all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Paul writes to the Ephesians believers:
“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.” (Eph 1:17)
This is the Bible that my brother gave me when I first became a Christian. It got run over by a car and has seen better days. But I love it because it has notes that I made as I read through the Bible for the first time. I was just discovering who Jesus is and that wisdom and knowledge are found in Hm.
We studied Paul’s words a few weeks ago from chapter one:
“For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way.” (Col 1:9-10)
Point to Ponder: Why do you read the Bible? Is it to get to know Jesus better and love God more?
Why was it so important that Paul was praying for these Christians to be encouraged in heart, united in love, and growing in their knowledge of Jesus Christ?
Because there were false teachers, wolves that were trying to selling them some beachfront property in Kansas!
C. Paul’s Warning
We must alert God’s people to dangers (2:4)
“I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.” (2:4)
The Secret Service is tasked with rooting out counterfeit money. In the first section of their training, they don’t handle any counterfeit bills. They handle thousands of real dollar bills. Then, after the know the real thing so well, they introduce a fake bill, which caught nearly every time. Why? Because by that time, they know what the real bill looks like, feels like, even smells like. They can’t be fooled.
Ray Stedman wrote:
“Truth and error look almost the same, but one is a counterfeit. In these days when we have so many counterfeit and imitation things around we are used to be being deceived and do not feel alarmed about it any more. Plastic looks like metal. Flowers are made of silk. We are daily touching things that are but imitations of the real thing. But imitations have obvious limitations. If you start regarding them as real you are in trouble”
Pau’s aim is to protect the churched from being deceived. This word means the “act of deception through false reasoning.” He doesn’t want the false teachers to be able to talk the believers in error with “fine sounding arguments.” This can be translated “beguiling speech, well-crafted speech, speculative reasoning, or even fancy talk.”
Most people think that the biggest threat to the church today is the culture we live in. But the biggest threat to Christianity isn’t from the outside but from the inside, from wolves in sheep’s clothing.
I’d like to show you an example of this in our culture today.
Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas has about 45,000 attendees per week. Their pastor Joel Osteen has the third most downloaded podcast in the US. He had 1.3 million followers on Twitter and 3.8 million on FaceBook. He’s written 14 books, selling over 100 million copies.
Watch this video and pay attention to the responses at the bottom of the screen.
[You Tube clip]
Let me read that again:
“For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” (2 Tim 4:3)
One pastor said that the best defense against deception is discipleship.
Point to Ponder: Biblical illiteracy is at an all time high, even among people who claim to be Christians. That’s why its so easy to manipulate people into believing things the Bible never says. Do you know Scripture well enough to fend off “fine sounding arguments” from slick tongued religious hucksters?
D. Paul’s Delight
We must assure God’s people in the faith (2:5)
For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.
When we moved to Florida, Maxine cried every day. Why? Because her body may have been in Florida but her heart was in Illinois!
Paul may have been 100 miles away in a dark, dank prison cell but his heart was with the believers in Colossae and Laodicea.
This is why he wanted to write them this letter. To encourage them! He was delighted with the reports that he heard about them. He is overjoyed and proud!
Far from folding under the pressure of the false teachers, their faith was firm and strong.
Epaphras had told Paul and Timothy about the Colossians “love in the Spirit.” (Col 1:8) They had started well and they are continuing to grow and mature in their walk with Jesus.
One commentator wrote:
“This letter was a vaccine against the false teachers, not an antibiotic for those already infected.”
The Rest of the Story
Let’s go back to Donna’s mom.
She simply started writing her long letters filled with Scripture, reminding her of what was true. This went on for about 6 months, and Donna said she was sitting in service and the pastor said something and she almost said out loud, “Wait, what? That’s not what the Bible says!” Her mother’s letters were helping her to discern truth from a lie.
She left the church and in an incredible twist, remarried her ex-husband, and now they have been married for fifty years all together!
She simply did what Paul did with the Colossians. He didn’t pound the false teachers. He simply lifted Jesus high and reminded them that Jesus plus nothing equals everything.
Ending Song: Joy in the house of The Lord
