Intro: In his book "Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life", Pastor Charles Swindoll tells a story about the 19th Century agnostic Thomas Huxley (some of you might know that it was Huxley who promoted Darwinism and Humanism in his attacks on Christianity). Huxley was in Dublin and was rushing to catch a train. He climbed aboard one of Dublin’s famous horse drawn taxis and said to the driver -"Hurry, I’m almost late ... drive fast". Off they went at a furious pace and Huxley sat back in his seat and closed his eyes. After a while Huxley opened his eyes and glanced out the window to notice that they were going in the wrong direction. Realizing that he hadn’t told the driver where to take him he called out ‘do you know where you’re going?’ The driver replied "No, your honor, but I am driving very fast’.
Following false religions and having false beliefs will take you no where very quickly. This is where the church in Colosse was headed and this was the reason Paul wrote to the church.
Before digging in to battle the false teachings that were creeping into the church Paul tells the truth about the gospel and its positive effects. Sometimes, it seems that people know what we Baptist are against rather than what we are for. We need to change that view by letting the world see what we are for. One thing we stand for is prayer.
I. A Faithful Christian Prays for Others (vs. 3-4a). Paul and Timothy pray for these faithful saints and when he prayed they took the form of prayers of thanksgiving.
One thing I love about Paul is the fact that often, he begins with Christ. He may deal with other topics, but he always brings it back around to show how God gets the glory. Here he doesn’t begin with flattery for the good they have done – he begins by pointing them to Christ.
He starts by giving thanks to God [read vs. 3-4a]. Every Christians needs to start their day by giving thanks to God and not only for another day of life, but for fellow Christians in the world. A Faithful Christian Prays for Others. Paul is thankful for their faith in Christ because the faithful are not distorting the Gospel like some are doing in town and in the church.
Paul recognizes and in a sense is teaching them by this wording that it is God who should get the thanks for what He has done. Salvation and all of its parts are ultimately a gift from the Lord therefore he writes, We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
What is Paul Thankful for? Paul is thankful for their faith in Jesus Christ. Remember this letter is to those set apart (holy) namely the faithful believers
(vs. 2). The faithful do not distort the gospel. They do not blend Christianity with other religions and world views. The faithful obey the commandments.
When many in the world believe that the Bible, Islam’s Koran, and Book of Mormon are all teaching the truth, but from different views or various portions of the truth – the faithful are steadfast in their believe that Jesus Christ is the only Truth. The faithful are a beacon of light in a world of darkness.
Illustration. The captain of the ship looked into the dark night and saw faint lights in the distance. Immediately he told his signal man to send a message: “Alter your course 10 degrees south.” Promptly a return message was received: “Alter your course 10 degrees north.”
The captain was angered; his command had been ignored. So he sent a 2nd message: “Alter your course 10 degrees south – I am the captain!” Soon another message was received: “Alter your course 10 degrees north – I am seaman 3rd class Jones.”
Immediately the captain sent a 3rd message, knowing the fear it would evoke: “Alter your course 10 degrees south – I am a battleship!” Then the reply came: “Alter your course 10 degrees north – I am a light house.”
Christian – You are the light house! We live in a world that wants Christians to just shut up and hide in a closet. Much of the world wishes that Christians would just go away so they can believe what they want to believe and not feel guilty. They feel guilty because Christians have within them the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin. But, God is calling for Christians to be that light house. He is calling YOU to be that beacon of light, hope, and grace in a dark sea of lost religions.
Paul is praying for believers, other Christians are praying for you, for Christians around the world to stand faithful during difficult times. You should be praying for other Christians so they can face a world that just wishes they would go away and hide under a rug. There was a time when homosexuals hid in the closet, now they are coming out and trying to force the Holy Spirit and Christians to get into the closet.
Paul is thankful for your faith in Christ Jesus faithful saint. He continues by stating that he has heard of these believers even though he has never met them. They had a reputation that went before them. Do you? Does your reputation as a faithful Christian precede you?
II. Three Virtues a Faithful Christian Should Have (vs. 4-5). Just like a harvest of ripe apples or a rich cluster of grapes is evidence of life in the seeds from which they sprang, so the seed of the gospel bears fruit – a cluster of virtues that proves there is spiritual life. These virtues are what people will see so your reputation can go before you.
Paul points out 3 fundamental traits of Christian character that should be evident in the life of those in whom the gospel seed has taken root: There are 3 things a Faithful Christian must have:
Paul mentions faith, love, and hope - NOT knowledge. Our problem is that we put so much of a premium on our ability to understand and comprehend that when we do not understand something we have a tendency to force ourselves to learn what we do not know and sometimes cannot know. It is said that knowledge is power. It seems to me that the Bible teaches that true power comes from faith, love, and hope.
This is a triad theme in vs. 3-5. These are foundational in Pauline theology. (1Cor 13:13). These virtues should be increasingly evident in our lives if the seed is doing what it is supposed to do. Faith begins the process.
A. Faith. Faith to some degree has to do with remembering the past. Heb 11:1 defines faith as “the assurance of things hoped for…” We look into history and see what God has done, how He brought His chosen people out of Egypt. We see how the Lord has protected Israel, cleansed Israel, and brought them back from captivity. We remember how the Lord sent His only Son to pay for our sins – the atoning sacrifice for our sins and then we put our faith into His hands. We look back to see how God has taken care of His children then we are assured that He will save us too.
Faith is looking back to see our future and that brings us hope – the 2nd virtue we all need.
B. Hope. Hope is the vision of the future that sees the hand of God in continued guidance and protection. We have a hope for our eternal state – by faith we know that when our bodies stop functioning we will reside with the Lord. So there is a hope for heaven.
Why bother becoming a follower of Jesus if this life is all there is? For the most part it’s a pretty sorry existence - surrounded by sin and temptation and the results of the fall. I certainly wouldn’t want to live forever in this kind of circumstance. But we have a huge hope that heaven awaits us where there will be no more sorrow or sin - only joy.
But notice that the source of the hope is not human generated emotion or philosophy. That’s the trap of Gnosticism and intellectualism – 2 things this church was beginning to battle. These are the beliefs that our minds can figure out our future - the sort of "Star Trek" idea that man will eventually rise above petty differences and we’ll all get along together. Truth is found in God’s word and God’s word says things are not going to get better; they are going to get worse.
Only when the memory of God in the past and the memory of God in the future are operative in the life of the believer can love be and active reality in the present.
Faith and love spring from hope - not intellect. Notice how the hope has two components: "stored up in heaven" and "that you have already heard about in the word of truth."
C. Love. One of the results of living a changed life – a life that is letting the gospel take root and grow within a believer is they will develop the virtue of love. In fact, the Apostle John repeats that thought over and over in his letters.
A true child of God will love other believers. “Faith in Christ purges us of our selfishness and affinity for sinners and gives us a new attraction to the people of God. Our love for fellow Christians is a reflection of His love for us. It is also obedience to His command to “love one another, even as I have loved you” (John 13:34).” (John Mac Aruthur).
But the reality is that we sometimes have a problem with love. Too often the believer is not controlled by a memory of God working to redeem in the past. Instead we have memories of betrayal and abandonment from people in our life who have hurt us. Sometimes we feel that way when life doesn’t happen the way we expect and we question God, “Where were you when my mother died?” or “How could God let this happen, He must have abandoned me.”
When betrayal colors our past and indecision is the lens thru which we see the future, the present is experienced as a place of powerlessness in which we feel unable to love. Max Anders writes, “With out a memory of God in the past, it would be foolish to have faith. Without the memory of God in the future, hope is impossible. Without faith and hope, love will never be a reality.”
III. God’s Truth Will Constantly Bear Fruit. (vs. 6-8). The gospel should do for us what it did for the church in Colosse. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is like a seed in that it is a dynamic force that shatters the hard, story soil of sin and takes root as new life.
This Christianity was not just another god to worship or religious cult within the Roman Empire and Colosse. It was and is the good news for the whole world. The gospel transcends ethnic, geographic, cultural, and political boundaries.
There many types of good news out there. As good as they may be, they pale in comparison to the good news of Jesus Christ. Christ has solved the problem of sin thru His death, burial, and resurrection. Paul gives us great summary of the gospel in his letter to the church in Corinth.
1Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, 2by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.3For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; 7then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; 8and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.
This is truly good news! There is no condemnation – it is salvation to all who place their faith in Christ.
God’s Truth (the Gospel) will Constantly Bear fruit because it is not a stagnant system of beliefs or ethics. It is living, it moves believers, and it is a growing reality. When the Gospel enters into a heart it begins working within that person. The gospel possesses a divine energy that causes it to spread like a mustard seed growing into a tree (Matt. 13:31-32).
This change takes place in each individual internally and it causes a change externally thru the church. These two concepts are interrelated. The spiritual growth of individuals will lead to new converts being won to Christ. This is what Paul means when he writes that the gospel is constantly bearing fruit and increasing.
Vs. 7 tells us from whom the church at Colosse had first heard the gospel. Epaphras is a faithful doulos a bond-servant of Jesus Christ. This fellow bond-servant carried news to the church and brought back news of their faith in Colosse to Paul.
Christians should constantly carry with them good news. Good news of the gospel of course, but also tell of the good things that others are doing. It is a form of edification and lifting up. Good news is meant to be told; not bottled up inside.
Conclusion. Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962), the world-famous violinist, earned a fortune with his concerts and compositions, but he generously gave most of it away. So, when he discovered an exquisite violin on one of his trips, he wasn’t able to buy it. Later, having raised enough money to meet the asking price, he returned to the seller, hoping to purchase the beautiful instrument. But to his great dismay it had been sold to a collector. Kreisler made his way to the new owner’s home and offered to buy the violin. The collector said it had become his prized possession and he would not sell it. Keenly disappointed, Kreisler was about to leave when he had an idea. "Could I play the instrument once more before it is consigned to silence?" he asked. Permission was granted, and the great virtuoso filled the room with such heart-moving music that the collector’s emotions were deeply stirred. "I have no right to keep that to myself," he exclaimed. "It’s yours, Mr. Kreisler. Take it into the world, and let people hear it."
Christian you have a symphony of beautiful news, good news and there is a world of dieing people waiting to hear it. If you will not tell it to let them hear, they may never hear.
Even so, there are those who flat out reject the gospel and this is why. People are rejecting the Bible and its truths because our lives are so ineffective. Who you are speaks so loudly that they can’t hear what you say.
It is a shame that people reject the truth because they really don’t see much difference between how they live and how we live. In fact, they think that they are better than we are because they don’t even pretend to be holy.
God’s invitation for you today is to let the gospel grow the virtues of faith, love, and hope within you. If you are holding a grudge against someone then its time to lay it out before the Lord – Confess it to Him and water that seed.
If you have never placed your faith in Christ – now is the time to come forward.
