Introduction:
A. Today, we are starting a new sermon series that I am calling “Colossians: Complete in Christ/Worthy in Walk.”
B. Let’s start today’s sermon with a riddle: What’s the difference between astrology and astronomy? Answer: About 50 IQ points.
1. You might be wondering why I would start today’s sermon with a riddle about astrology, right?
2. The reason is twofold:
a. First, because there is a resurgence of people reading horoscopes.
b. And second, because Paul had something to say about mixing Christianity with other beliefs in his letter to the Colossians.
C. Believe it or not, people in the 21st century still read horoscopes, and their popularity has surged, especially among younger generations.
1. The practice has evolved from traditional newspaper columns and magazines to a vast digital landscape of apps, websites, and social media content.
2. The rise of smartphones and social media has made astrology more accessible than ever.
a. Apps like Co-Star and Sanctuary offer personalized horoscopes and birth chart analysis, and astrological memes are common on platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
3. Millennials and Gen Z are the primary drivers of astrology's resurgence.
4. Surveys reveal that a significant percentage of young people believe in astrological guidance for decisions about dating and careers.
a. Comparing zodiac signs is seen by some as a modern equivalent of other personality indicators, like Myers-Briggs types or the True Colors personality inventory.
5. Others look to horoscopes for amusement or as a tool for self-understanding and identity formation.
6. The ongoing popularity of astrology can be attributed to a desire for meaning and a sense of control in a stressful and uncertain world, particularly amplified by events like the COVID-19 pandemic.
7. Astrology has evolved into a multi-billion dollar industry.
a. In 2024, the global psychic services industry, which includes astrology, was estimated to have generated $2.3 billion in revenue in the U.S. alone.
D. I wanted to begin our exploration of the letter here, because Paul was concerned about some kind of false teaching that was affecting the Colossians and we will get into it a little more in this sermon and certainly a lot more throughout our study of this letter.
1. The challenges they were facing in that time are not too different from the challenges facing us today.
2. As we study this letter from the apostle Paul, we will learn, or be reminded of, powerful principles that will help us grow in Christ, making us more complete in Christ and helping us to be able to walk worthy of our calling.
3. In our sermon today, I will introduce us to the city of Colosse, the church in Colosse, the conflict facing the church in Colossae, and Paul’s correspondence with the church.
4. Look again at the opening words of the letter: Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and Timothy our brother: To the saints in Christ at Colossae, who are faithful brothers and sisters. Grace to you and peace from God our Father. (Col. 1:1-2)
I. The City
A. Allow me to give you a brief introduction to the city of Colossae.
1. Colossae was one of three cities located about 100 miles inland from Ephesus.
2. The other two cities were Laodicea and Hierapolis.
3. This area was a meeting point between the East and the West, because it was on an important trade route.
4. At one time, all three cities were growing and prospering, but gradually Colossae slipped into a lesser position.
5. Later, Colossae was hit by a devastating earthquake around AD 60 and today the city is uninhabited.
B. All kinds of philosophies mingled in this cosmopolitan area and religious hucksters abounded.
1. There was a large Jewish population, although the city was predominantly Gentile.
2. It was fertile ground for religious speculation and heresies, because of the constant influx of new ideas and doctrines from the East.
3. With that brief introduction in mind, let’s turn our attention to the church.
II. The Church
A. Colossae probably would never have been mentioned in the New Testament had there not been a church there.
1. The city is not mentioned in the book of Acts, because Paul did not start the church, nor did he visit there during his missionary journeys recorded in Acts.
2. In Paul’s letter to the Colossians, he mentions that he had heard of their faith (1:4, 9) and that he had never seen them personally (2:1).
3. But isn’t this something!...Here was a church of unknown people, in a small town, who received an inspired letter from the Apostle Paul that became part of the Bible!
B. So, if Paul didn’t start the church, then who did? How did it get planted?
1. It appears that the church began as an outgrowth of Paul’s three-year ministry in Ephesus (Acts 19; 20:17-38)
2. Acts 19:10 tells us that the witness of the church at Ephesus was so effective that “all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.”
3. This effective outreach from Ephesus must have included the people in Colossae, Laodicea and Hierapolis.
D. When we connect the dots involving the people Paul mentioned in Paul’s letters to the Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon and 2 Timothy (all those letters were written by Paul while in prison), we can recreate the story of how the Colossian church must have come into existence.
1. During Paul’s ministry in Ephesus, at least two men from the area of Colossae were brought to faith in Jesus and their names are Epaphras and Philemon.
2. Apparently, Epaphras was one of the key founders of the Colossian church, for he shared the Gospel with his friends in Colossae (Col. 1:7).
3. Epaphras also had a ministry in the cities of Hierapolis and Laodicea (Col. 4:12-13).
4. It appears that Archippus may have been the evangelist at the church in Laodicea and was the son of Philemon in whose house the church met in Laodicea. (Col. 4:17; Philemon 1:2)
E. Let’s pause and ponder a powerful lesson: God uses all kinds of people to establish and grow His church.
1. God did not and does not always need or use an apostle or a “full-time” worker to get a church planted.
2. And God also doesn’t need elaborate buildings and extensive organizations to establish churches and help them grow.
3. Here in this story involving the Colossians, we learn about the ministry of Epaphras, a young Christian whose ministry impacted several cities.
4. The Gospel was being shared and the church was growing, and all of it was the result of regular, common disciples of Jesus (not official apostles or evangelists), and many who likely made a difference are not even mentioned by name.
5. Just imagine what God could do through each of us if we allowed Him to work through us.
a. How might the Gospel go out through you in your neighborhood, workplace or school?
b. Imagine how people might be drawn to Christ and grow in their faith and their walk with God if you were to set up a Bible study in your home, or school, or workplace.
c. It is exciting to think about the possibilities!
F. Let me mention two more things about the church at Colossae.
1. First, it appears that the Colossian church was comprised mainly of Gentiles, rather than Jews.
2. Second, the church was probably about five years old when Paul wrote this letter.
III. The Crisis
A. Let’s talk for a few minutes about the reason that Paul wrote the letter to the Colossians.
B. When we compare the prison letters of Paul, we are able to do a reconstruction of events.
1. Paul was a prisoner in Rome (Acts 21:17-28) and while there, he met a runaway slave named Onesimus who belonged to Philemon who was one of the leaders of the church in Laodicea, near Colossae.
2. Paul decided to write a letter to Philemon, that is part of the New Testament, and in that letter he asked his friend Philemon to forgive Onesimus and receive him back as a brother, because Onesimus had become a Christian.
3. About the same time, Epaphras showed up in Rome because he needed Paul’s help.
a. Some new doctrines were being taught in Colossae and were impacting the church and creating problems.
4. So, Paul wrote the letter to the Colossians in order to refute these heretical teachings and establish the truth of the Gospel.
5. Epaphras stayed with Paul in Rome (Col. 4:12-13) while Onesimus and Tychicus carried Paul’s letters to their destinations: to the Ephesians (Eph. 6:21), the Colossians (Col. 4:7-9), and to Philemon (Philemon 1:12).
C. Now we come to the most important question regarding the letter to the Colossians: What was the heresy that threatened the peace and purity of the Colossian church?
1. As we try to answer that question, we must keep in mind the difficulty of the task.
a. It is never easy to reconstruct the precise tenets of a heresy when the only available data are the indirect allusions in the course of a positive teaching intending to counteract it.
b. Our situation is like listening to one side of a telephone conversation – you never know what the other person is saying or asking, but are only hearing the response.
2. With that challenge in mind, it appears that the heresy was a combination of Eastern philosophy and Jewish legalism and Gnosticism.
3. Gnosticism was a religious and philosophical movement that “gelled” in the 2nd century, but it began in the 1st century.
a. The term comes from the Greek word “know” or “knowledge.”
b. The Gnostics were the people who claimed to be “in the know” when it came to the deep and secret things of God.
c. They considered themselves the “spiritual aristocracy” because their secret knowledge made them better than others.
4. Some of the elements of the heresy were the following:
a. The heresy promised people such a close union with God that they would achieve a “spiritual perfection.”
1. This spiritual fulness could be theirs if they entered into the teachings and ceremonies prescribed.
b. Many of their teachings were based on man-made philosophies.
1. One of their philosophies evolved from an effort to answer the question of why is there evil in a world created by a holy and good God.
2. Their conclusion was that the good and holy God didn’t create the world directly, but did so through a number of “emanations” that insulated God from the evil.
c. Added to these philosophes was a form of Jewish legalism that pushed the rite of circumcision and an adherence to the dietary laws of the Old Testament.
1. Spiritual perfection was sought through strict adherence to these rules and regulations.
5. It’s easy to see how these kinds of teachings would and did undermine the very foundations of the Christian faith.
a. The false teachers attacked the person and work of Jesus.
1. They taught that Jesus was just one of the many emanations of God, but that His sacrifice was not sufficient in itself for salvation.
b. As the false teachers taught that matter was evil, they often went in two opposite extreme directions.
1. On the one extreme, they sought to overcome their “evil” bodies through means of rigid discipline and asceticism.
2. On the opposite extreme, they concluded that if matter was evil then it as okay to do evil with physical things – so they engaged in all kinds of sins using their “evil” bodies.
a. In their minds, the body and the spirit were two different things and the one didn’t effect the other.
6. And so the heresy facing the Colossians was a deceptive combination of many of these things: Jewish legalism, pagan astrology, mysticism, and asceticism.
a. The heresy was a mixture of things that had something for everyone – like a cafeteria line you could pick and choose your combo plate.
b. And in the middle of these other things was Christianity.
c. The false teachers claimed that they weren’t denying the Christian faith, but were just lifting it to a better and higher level.
D. Let’s pause and ask this question: Do we have any heresies like this today that try to add other philosophies and practices to Christianity?
1. The answer is: Yes, indeed we do.
2. There are many who like a lot of things about Jesus, but they don’t want to accept all that the Bible says about Jesus.
3. There are those who try to add other formulas and rituals to Christianity to bring a person to greater fulness and self-actualization.
4. There are those who want to downplay the concept of sin and say that God is not all that concerned about what we do with our bodies, so let’s loosen up and have some fun.
5. These heresies of today can undermine our faith and take us off track in our relationship with God.
IV. The Correspondence
A. Paul loved the Christians at Colossae and wanted what was bests for them and so he wrote this letter to them to counter the false teaching of the heretics.
1. Paul spent the first part of the letter declaring Jesus’ preeminence and sufficiency.
2. In the middle part of the letter, Paul discussed the danger of these false teachings and encouraged them to beware of empty philosophies, religious legalism, and man-made disciplines.
3. Then, in the final part of the letter, Paul turned his attention to living a life worthy of our calling and spelled out how a disciple of Jesus should live in purity and live a consistent spiritual life, in the church, in the home, and in our work, our witness and our service to the Lord.
B. As in all of Paul’s letters, there is this important connection between the theological and the practical.
1. Correct doctrine and correct practice go hand in hand.
2. A right understand of Jesus and our salvation in Christ produces the right kind of daily life in the follower of Jesus.
C. Our scripture reading today included the first two verses of Colossians.
1. Let’s look at them again: 1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and Timothy our brother: 2 To the saints in Christ at Colossae, who are faithful brothers and sisters. Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
2. This salutation is typical of the beginning of 1st century correspondence.
3. The writer always identified themselves at the beginning of the letter, which is different from our correspondence today where we identify ourselves at the end of our letters.
a. Paul says that this letter is from him and from Timothy, their brother in the faith.
b. Paul reminds them that he is an apostle of Jesus, not by his own choosing, but because it was God’s will and God’s choice.
4. After identifying himself as the author, Paul identified the recipients of the letter.
a. He was writing to the saints in Christ at Colossae.
b. The Bible teaches that all Christians are “saints in Christ.”
c. Paul farther identifies them as those who are faithful brothers and sisters.
5. And then finally, Paul gave them his typical greeting or blessing: “Grace and peace from God our Father.”
a. Grace was the typical Gentile greeting and peace (shalom” was the typical Jewish greeting.
b. We all need and want God’s grace and peace! Amen?
c. And we should all be passing along God’s grace and peace to others. Amen?
6. Ultimately, what Paul was saying in the opening of this letter is the title I gave this sermon: this letter is “From Paul with Love.”
Conclusion:
A. I am excited for us to explore Paul’s letter to Colossians in the coming weeks.
1. I believe that there is so much spiritual insight and instruction in this letter that will help us understand how we are “complete in Christ” and must be “worthy in walk.”
2. We live in a day where there is a lot of attacks against Christianity and a lot of attempts to change Christianity.
3. There is a lot of religious toleration that says one religion is as good as another and there is a lot of blending and synchronizing of religions – where people take what they like of Christianity and other religions and philosophies and mix them into one.
4. Ultimately, the New Age Movement is a synchronization of lots of religious thought and practice.
B. As we study this letter together, I pray that we will all grow in our relationship with God.
1. I pray that we will grow in our appreciation of Jesus and allow Him the supreme position in our lives and in everything.
2. I pray that we will grow in our understanding of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus and that we will realize our completeness in Christ.
3. I pray that we will also realize that although we are saved by grace, there is still sanctifying work that needs to be done, not in order to be saved, but because we are saved.
4. That sanctifying work has to do with the ongoing crucifying of our old self and old sinful ways and the growing up and growing more worthy in our walk at home, at work, and in the world.
C. For those who are not yet followers of Jesus, I hope that you will turn to Jesus, confess your faith, repent, and be baptized into Christ.
1. And if anyone here today has strayed from their commitment to Christ, then I pray that you will repent and recommit yourself to living a life worthy of our call.
2. Today is the day of salvation and today is the day restoration.
3. Why is today the day of salvation and restoration? Because today is the only day we have, for sure.
4. If you need to respond to the invitation, then come…
Resources:
Colossians, by David E. Garland, in the NIV Application Commentary, Zondervan, 1998
Colossians, by Owen D. Olbricht, in the Truth for Today Commentary, Resource Publications, 2005
