Colossians
“Introduction
to the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Colossians
Colossians
is another of what are called “the prison epistles.” These are the letters that Paul wrote as he
was imprisoned in Rome around A.D. 62. (The other prison epistles are Ephesians, Philippians, and
Philemon.) Colosse was a church that was
not formally founded by Paul, as he had never been there personally. It was most likely founded by someone who had
been converted at Ephesus while Paul was ministering there. Colosse was around a hundred miles from
Ephesus. It was at one time a great
city, but it was on the decline at the time of Paul’s writing and was destroyed
shortly thereafter by an earthquake. The
book was closely related to the Book of Philemon, and was probably delivered at
the same time as Philemon by Onesimus. It was related to the book of Ephesians, which was written about the
same time. But whereas Ephesians was
written to teach about the church, Colossians was written to teach about Jesus. At this time in Colosse, there were several
heresies that were sprouting up concerning the nature of Jesus. It would seem that there was a growing
Gnosticism, combined with Jewish legalism.
The Gnostics believed that they had a
special, mystical understanding of who Jesus was, believing Him to be less than
God. They saw Him as a step in the
progression from God to man, but they denied His deity and also His
humanity. This mystical philosophy was
combined with a legalism that held to the teaching that you could somehow earn
status with God by keeping the outward rules of the Law. [i.e. probably the
ceremonial parts of the Law, like circumcision.] Paul responded to this heresy by presenting
Jesus as the Creator God, “By Him all things were created” (Co. 1:16). He declared Him to be completely God and
completely man, as he said, “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily (Col. 2:9). Jesus was God in a
body. He wasn’t a spirit being, nor was
He any less than completely God…The Book then goes on to give practical
application of the truth of who Jesus is and forms a beautifully outline of the
Christian life, centered around the Person of Jesus Christ, God in the flesh.”
[Comment by Pastor Chuck Smith in The WORD For TODAY BIBLE, New King James
Version, p. 1565]
Colossians
1:1-18
“Paul,
an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at
Colosse: Grace be unto you, and
peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God and the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in
Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints, for the
hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of
the truth of the gospel; which is come unto you, as it is in all the
world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day
ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth: as ye also learned of Epaphras our dear
fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ; who also declared
unto us your love in the Spirit. For
this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for
you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in
all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the Lord
unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the
knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power,
unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; giving thanks unto the
Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the
saints in light: who hath delivered us
from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of
his dear Son: in whom we have redemption
through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: who is the image of the invisible God, the
firstborn of every creature: for by him
were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and
invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or
principalities, or powers: all things
were created by him, and for him: and he
is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the
church: who is the beginning, the
firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the
preeminence.”
“We’re
in Colossians this evening, chapter 1, Paul writing to this church at Colossi,
close to Laodicea, Asia Minor. You read
chapters 19, 20 in the Book of Acts, Paul as he was there in area of Ephesus
had such a dynamic ministry, it said ‘The Word of God spread out to all
of the surrounding regions,’ and no doubt it was in that time when Paul
was ministering in Ephesus that this church in Colossi was born. It seems that
Epaphras, and we’ll meet him in our first chapter, was the pastor there, by
some of the grammar that it uses describing him. And it seems that he is a separate
personality than Epaphroditus, possibly the same. But it seems a different personality. Paul is in Rome, in prison, chained to a
Roman guard. This letter to the
Colossians goes with the letter to the Ephesians and Philemon. Because Colossi was on a trade route,
spiritual life in Colossi was a soup-pot of all kinds of crazy things. And there was a strong teaching that the
material world was evil, there was a strong teaching that Jesus was a created
being, less than Divine, less than God, a perversion of the Gospel of Christ,
along with a Pandora’s box of other spiritual insanity. [Comment: That’s Arianism. To learn what this heresy was all about,
which even now infects some parts of the Body of Christ, see, http://www.unityinchrist.com/wwcofg/What%20is%20Arianism.htm.] And Paul then uses 34 Greeks words in this
short Epistle we find nowhere else in the New Testament, as he talks of the
magnificence and the beauty and the power and the Divinity and the Eternality
of Christ, and he does a beautiful, beautiful presentation of the Person of
Christ, certainly standing alone with
the first chapter of Hebrews and the first chapter of John’s Gospel, of the
Divinity of Christ. He’s never seen
these Colossians. He’s going to tell us
he heard of them. He knows of the fruit
that the Word of God has been bearing there, and it is you know of course the
Spirit of God moving on his heart, and to write this Epistle to them, which is
very instructive and very passionate in some ways. He begins by saying, “Paul, an apostle of
Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother, to the
saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: grace be unto you, and peace, from God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (verses 1-2) He uses a very, typical of Paul, this introduction,
speaking that his apostleship is by the will of God. He’s writing to a church he’s never met, he’s
never stood among them, but there is a weight to the things he has to say. He says his apostleship, what he’s doing, is “by
the will of God,” it’s according to God’s sovereignty and God’s will that
he is what he is, that he is who he is. And no doubt they’re accepting of that. And again, he writes some remarkable things to them here. And it’s sad to say, within 30 years, as we
read the letter to the Laodicean church in the Book of Revelation, because this
Epistle was also passed on to them, there was such a turning away from the
truths contained here. Paul writing ‘an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,
with Timothy,’ he says, ‘our brother, to the saints,’ that’s us now. Remember as we go through
the New Testament, we have a strange idea of saints, and that can come from a
few different places, but the saints are not on the dashboard, not on the front
lawn, they’re here sitting at church, look around, remarkable. ‘…To the believers, to the saints, “and
faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse:” So again, two addresses, and you and I have
two addresses, “in Christ” and “in Philadelphia.” If you’ve taken notice, the majority of our
problems are in Philadelphia, not in Christ. But we have two addresses, we’re here in this crazy world that is
disintegrating, but we are also in Christ in heavenly places. “Grace be unto you, and peace, from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”, the typical greeting, grace
always needing to be realized before we experience God’s peace. Never peace then grace, always grace, then
peace.
We’ve Heard Of
Your Faith, Love And Hope
And
from verse 3 now down to verse 8 he begins to give thanks, and expresses what
he’s heard about this church in Colossi, “We give thanks to God and the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,” and he’s going to
reiterate that, now here’s why, he says, “praying always for you, since we
heard [he has never met this church face to face] of your faith in
Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints, for the
hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of
the truth of the gospel;” (verses 3-5) So…and he mentions three things here, ‘faith, hope and love,’ of course, which should be predominant things in all of our lives, “since we
heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,” very important, not ‘since
we heard of your faith in Calvary Chapel.’ If you don’t know Christ personally, and
one day you stand before God, and he says to you ‘Why should I let you into
heaven [or the Kingdom of heaven]?’ And you say to him, ‘Because I went to Calvary Chapel.’ It’s going to go [loud buzzer sound], “wrong
answer.” No, he’s going to say, ‘Sorry.’ “since we heard of your faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ.” You know, the best
theology, and this is just so present in my heart right now, because you know
we’re living in the days when so many people are falling away. We’re living in the days that Paul said would
precede the coming of Christ, when men would be turning away from the faith, be
lovers of themselves, lovers of pleasure more than God. He describes the apostasy of these days, and
the aberrant teaching and beliefs that would take place. And people can argue about predestination and
Five-Point Calvinism and Armianism, and are you a Secessionist or do you
believe the gifts are, you know what? The most wonderful and powerful theological position is a personal
relationship and walk with Jesus Christ the Lord. [applause] Let everything else grow from there. [To see what those theological doctrines
teach, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arminianism and http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/dabney/5points.htm] Paul said ‘We give thanks, pray for
you, we’ve heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus,’ not in an “ism”, not
in a system, not in an organization, in the Lord Jesus. Look, even not in people. You know I know most of your faces, well,
that’s not true, I know a lot of your faces [kind of hard to know all the faces
in a congregation with multiple thousands in it]. I’ve forgotten most of your names, but I
remember most of your faces. I’m just
there, you know. But you know if you’ve
been in the Church for any length of time, that one of the things the Lord will
be faithful to do in your life is to crush your trust in Christians. Now, now in the good way. There’s a good way it can happen, and there’s
a bad way it can happen, trust Christians. Certainly the Body of Christ is to be a place where we can be vulnerable,
we can trust one another and so forth. But you know, if you start to look to man in the wrong way, God will let
someone, a mentor, a friend, when that person fails, or that person
demonstrates their humanity, sometimes young Christians are flabbergasted, they
can’t believe it. ‘You mean this
person that I looked up to is as human as I am!? Where do I go now? Who do I look to now?’ The Lord Jesus Christ. ‘Since we heard of your faith in Christ
Jesus,’ Paul says, ‘we’re praying, we’re giving thanks, and your
love which you have to all of the saints.’ You know something supernatural is happening
when you love all of the saints. When you love some of the saints, you’re making progress, when you love
all of the saints, Paul knows something’s happening. And he’s going to talk about it.
What Is The
Hope Of The Church, Gospel?
“And
for the hope” now look, it is an interesting grammatical structure, it says “because of
the hope which is laid up for you.” You know, faith, hope and love, these three abide [1st Corinthians 13:13]. But he says ‘their
faith and their love is driven and supported by and couched by and enabled to
continue by, because of the hope that you have that’s laid up in heaven,’ “whereof ye heard before in the word of truth of the gospel;” You know he says the blessed hope of the
Church, it’s purifying, it’s sustaining, it drives us. You know, and again I’ll hear people say, ‘Well
you know all this stuff about the 2nd Coming and the Rapture of the
Church and the anti-christ and the end-times, you know, that’s fine, but people
need to be grounded in the foundational things,’ and I understand what
you’re saying. But you read 1st and 2nd Thessalonians and you realize Paul was only there for three
weeks before he was driven out of Thessalonica, and you read what Paul taught
them and what he spoke to them about, because Paul knew the power of hope. Paul knew the power of the Church
understanding the blessed hope of the Church, that this is earth. You know, as we’re looking at the news, are
we going to war next week? Are we going
to go to war next month, in November? And if you and I are thinking about that, and it seems like we might be
preparing to do that, well Saddam Hussein must be aware of that, he watches CNN
too. [And he had a thing for CNN
reporters too, he let them right into Baghdad, set up shop there.] What is he going to do, just sit quietly by,
or is he going to preempt something against Israel to try to draw the Muslim
world onto his side [he would have been smarter if he had done so]? We’re living in troubled times. You know again, my responsibility now is to
say, ‘OK, next week we’re going to be in Colossians chapter 2, read
ahead. And Sunday we’re going to cover
this number of Psalms, and the next week we’ll be moving onto Proverbs.’ And I hope that’s one of my responsibilities
until the Trumpet blows. But before this
is all over, my responsibility might be to say, ‘OK, everybody with
radiation burns, meet in that corner back there, some of our doctors are
there. Everybody who hasn’t had any food
for the last two days, please go to that back corner over there, everybody who
has their mortgage paid off and can have two or three families move in with you
please come up over here, we’ll be sneaking out that way over there.’ Well what’s in for us before we go? Well none of that’s going to touch the hope
that we have. None of that is going to
touch the hope that should keep us in the most difficult of times, that is
keeping our brethren all around the world tonight that are persecuted, they’re
living in unthinkable conditions, that keeps their love and their faith alive,
because of the hope that we have, he says here,
The Power Of
The Gospel, It Brings Forth Fruit
“For
[because] of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof
ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel.” (verse 5) Now, he’ll reiterate some of these things as
he talks about his prayer for them, because he’s heard these things are laid as
foundations in their lives. “which is
come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it
doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace
of God in truth:” (verse 6) So, the
Word of God, the Gospel of Christ, in and of itself, able to bring forth
fruit. [Just what is the Gospel of
Christ? See, http://www.unityinchrist.com/misc/WhatIsTheGospel%20.htm] And he says “as it is [as it has]
in all the world”, well that’s the Roman world, the Mediterranean world,
it’s the world that they knew. But you
have to understand, that’s without radio, it’s without television, without fax
machines, without phones, without publications, without begathons, without
powerpens and powerpartners and power this and power that, [and also don’t
forget, without the power of the Internet] they touched the known world,
through the power of the Holy Ghost, and through the power of the Holy Ghost
producing in them love, faith, hope. They touched their world. Imagine, you know this was 12 apostles and it was the 120 in the upper
room, then it was the Church in Jerusalem that was driven through persecution
out through the Roman world, they touched the world, without all of the
benefits---but are they benefits, if we lean on them instead of falling on our
knees?---but they touched the world. They didn’t have illustrations and overheads, but the power was in the
spoken Word, and they touched the known world. [And I will say this, over all the technological advances of
communication, the Gospel going out over radio and the printing press, coupled
to the light of our good works, has remained the two most powerful media for
promoting the Gospel of Christ. See, http://www.unityinchrist.com/wwcofg/wearesalt.htm] “which is come unto you, as it is in all the world,” Paul says. This
is about 30 years since Acts chapter 1. [i.e 62AD] That’s not bad. “and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in
truth;” So the Word of God, the
Gospel of Christ, as it is spoken to us, as we study the Scripture, as we’re
taught the Scripture, it says it brings forth fruit. Peter says ‘You’re not born again of
corruptible seed, but incorruptible, which is the Word of God.’ And that as the Word of God is sown, maybe
you’re here tonight and you don’t know Christ, the Scripture says of itself
that as the truths of God, the Word of God, falls upon human hearts just like
seed falls upon the soil, and that when it hits the human heart in the right
way, and the human heart is broken up, and becomes receptive to truth and tired
of this world, and ready to listen, that it brings forth fruit, here a little,
there a little, line upon line, precept upon precept, how the Word of God
brings truth in our lives. Jesus in John
17:17 said “Father, sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is
truth.” ‘Father, set aside their
lives, take their lives and set them aside from this world, sanctify them with
thy truth, thy Word is truth.’ Paul says, ‘You know, I’m hearing about you guys in Colossi, I’ve
never seen you in the face, but as I listen, we’re thanking God, we’re hearing
about your faith, hope and love, the kind of the fruit of the Spirit, the
things that we want to hear, and we’re seeing that the Word of God,’ in
a church that Paul didn’t start, in a church that Paul never visited, and yet a
church that was growing, he said ‘That we’re hearing that there’s good
fruit and that the Word is being taught and that you’re growing.’ “As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear
fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister [diacona, deacon, servant] of
Christ;” (verse 7) So, this man
Epaphras, it says ‘they learned,’ literally ‘they were
discipled by Epaphras.’ The idea
is that of constantly teaching the Word of God and constantly sowing, ‘that
you learned these wonderful things we’re hearing about, of Epaphras, our dear
fellowservant, who is for you a faithful servant, faithful.’ It is required of a steward, Paul says, first
of all that he be found faithful, dependable. When somebody says “I’ll be there,” they’ll be there. When somebody signs up for something, they
show up for it. Servant-hood, when they
say “I’ll be there and do this,” they’re there and they do it. ‘A faithful servant of Christ,’ “who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.” (verse 8) Evidently Paul had questions. Epaphras is in Rome, Paul says, ‘Well,
what’s happening in their lives? Well
what do you mean there’s a church thriving in Colossi? Well what have you been teaching them?’ because they didn’t have New Testaments, they didn’t have, you know,
CD-ROMs…Paul said, ‘Well, what’s going on? How do you explain Christ? Yea,
that’s right, and what if you said this, and what’s the warfare there in
Colossi, and what’s coming against those ideas you communicated? Ah, tell me about the fruit you’re
seeing?’ And he said, ‘Well, the love,
we’re seeing the fruit of the Spirit, the love they have in the Spirit, the
self-sacrificing attitude they have is reflecting the fact that the Living
Saviour has moved into their hearts, and they’re reflecting in their own lives
that self-sacrificing life of Christ.’
Paul’s Prayer
For Colossi
“For
this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for
you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in
all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the Lord
unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the
knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power,
unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness…” (verses 9-11) So
Paul now then moves in verse 9, into this prayer. And you know, I look at this, and I think,
it’s a model prayer, certainly for those that we love, if you have parents that
are newly saved, or parents that are saved but not being taught somewhere, or
friends that have just come to Christ, and you know, you get on your knees. What should you say? How should you pray for them? It’s beautiful to see how Paul is praying for
this young church, and you know, it takes me to task, because I look at this
and I think, ‘How many times have I prayed for my 13-year-old daughter like this? How many times have I been before the Lord
and prayed these kinds of things for my 15-year-old son? How many times have I prayed these for my
21-year-old son, my 23-year-old daughter? How many times, Lord please teach me to pray like this, give me that
ability to pray the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man that availeth
much.’ Look what it says, “For
this cause we also,” ‘because we’ve heard about what God is doing here,
we hear about the fruit of the gospel and what’s happening, Epaphras has told
us about your love,’
Pray They Will
Be Filled With The Knowledge Of His Will---Have All Their Spiritual Ducks Lined
Up
“For
this cause we also, since the day we heard it, [these are difficult words] do
not cease to pray for you,” We say
that about our parents, our friends, our children, “do not cease to pray”,
and these are people that Paul hasn’t met, “do not cease to pray for you,
and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all
wisdom and spiritual understanding.” (verse 9) The longing of Paul’s heart, and he tells us
what it is now. So if you’re going to
pray for your kids [or for your church, your congregation. Don’t forget, that’s what Paul was praying
for here], pray for your friends, pray for those who have come to the Faith,
and you’ve watched them recently saved, you know, they’re growing. And you know what, pray for me this way
too. “that ye might be filled with
the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding”, that
you might be filled with the knowledge of his will. You know, ‘What’s the
will of the Lord? I’m trying to figure
out what the Lord’s will is, I want to know what God’s will is.’ Well first of all, you don’t have to worry
about putting out fleeces, ‘I’ll put out a fleece,’ no, no, no, no,
don’t do that. Ok? You’re not Gideon, where you’re gonna go out
and skin a sheep in put it out in your back yard, and say in the morning, ‘No
dew.’ We need dew, you know it’s
been dry, got some rain later, so don’t put out any fleeces. You have the author of the Book living in
your heart now. These are doctrinal
things. Paul says, ‘I want you to
be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual
understanding, I want you to believe properly, have all wisdom and spiritual
understanding, that doctrinally your ducks would be in a row, you would
understand the Truth. I want you to
continue to grow in these things that I’ve heard that you’re hearing and being
taught, that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will.’ All that comes here [probably pointing to his
Bible]. You know the Jew always knew
that. The Greek was a hedonist, he’d go
out and drink wine and have sex and do these other things, to experience so
that me might discover truth. Even Solomon
gets caught up in that. You know the
Book of Ecclesiastes, ‘I gave myself to wine, I gave myself to women, I
gave myself to this, I gave myself to that.’ And at the end he says ‘Really, you know, in the final analysis, there’s
one thing, and that’s to serve God and to keep his commandments.’ Well the thing is, the Jew always knew that
he didn’t have to go search experience, or explore the universe to try to find
God’s will, he always knew the Truth was contained in a Book. And it is today. And the problem isn’t that the Word of God is
not sharp, and it’s not powerful, it’s like Amos said, there’s a famine of the hearing of the Word of God. There’s no famine of
the Word of God. There’s a famine of the hearing of the Word of God. The Word of God is everywhere. It’s on television, it’s on radio, it’s in print, it’s in the movies,
everywhere. The problem isn’t that there
is a famine of the Word, there’s a famine of the hearing, people
don’t want to hear the Word. Paul says, ‘I
pray that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and
spiritual understanding.’
‘That You Walk
Worthy Of The Lord, Fruitful In Every Good Work, Increasing In The Knowledge Of
God, Strengthened With Might Unto All Patience And Longsuffering With Joy’
And
then he goes through these four things. “that ye might walk worthy of the
Lord unto all pleasing,” Now what
he’s going to do, he’s going to say, ‘Proper doctrine produces proper
ethics. Proper belief produces proper
behavior.’ If we know the love
of Christ, if we know what he’s done for us, if we feel our hearts cooling, we
need to go and sit alone at Golgotha, we need to go sit alone at Calvary, and
look up at that mutilate figure, that brutalized face, and his life running
into the ground, his blood running into the ground. We need to go back, we need to sit, we need
to look. Because that’s what we believe,
that God Almighty died for us there, and he paid for our sins, and he loved us
so much that he who knew no sin became sin, that we might be the very
righteousness of God. And if that is
engraved upon our hearts, proper doctrine, proper belief should illicit from
our lives proper behavior, proper living. And Paul says that, ‘that you might be filled with the knowledge
of his will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you might walk
worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing.’ Now “worthy” is a word from the marketplace, aksios, again, ‘that
your walk would weigh as much as your talk,’ “worthy” is to be put on
the scales and weigh as much as. First
thing he says, if you believe the right things, Paul says, ‘I don’t stop
praying day and night, I’m hearing about the good work that’s begun there, I
don’t want to see you derailed doctrinally, I don’t want you to start to
believe some of these things that are being brought into the Colossian church,
but I want you to be filled with the knowledge of his will, and wisdom and all
spiritual understanding,’ “that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all
pleasing, being fruitful in every good work,” “Being fruitful in every good work,” that our
lives, God saying to us through the apostle Paul, that he wants our lives to be
fruitful unto every good work. It
says that there are good works foreordained for us, that we should walk in
them, for every person in this room that is a believer. There are good works foreordained that we
should walk in them. Why? Well, he says here, because “for the hope
that is laid up for you in heaven,” that we will then be able to take our
crowns and throw them at the feet of Christ the Lord. There are good works foreordained that we
should, that then he will be able to lavish upon us eternally the rewards of
serving Christ and bearing good fruit, and that then there would be an abundant
entrance into the Kingdom of God ministered unto us. There is not a selfish motive anywhere on the
part of God when he asks us for our lives, and he asks us to stop living in
compromise, and he asks us to give him our all, because he measures all of that
in light of eternity and in light of eternal values. And he knows that there isn’t anything done
for Christ in this world that won’t last forever. And you can see a value system, that
sometimes we get mucked up and muddled up in this world. And sometimes it’s hard for us to leave go of
what is tangible for what is intangible. It’s sometimes hard for us to leave go of what is present for what is
eternal, that God is always by his Spirit and by his Word begging our hearts,
loving us as his sons and his daughters. He doesn’t want anything from us. I have four kids, I don’t want anything from them. I don’t want their money, they want my
money. [laughter] I didn’t have kids to support me, I had them
to go broke. I don’t want to be left
with anything left, I want to give it all to them. I don’t hold anything back. He loves us more than we love our earthly
children. He’s asking that we would
serve him and bear good fruit, not because he wants something from us, because
he wants something for us. “that ye
might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good
work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;” (verse 10) And that is my prayer, to be growing in grace
and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. I come back to passages in the Scripture that I thought I was fairly
familiar with, and I see things that I had never seen before, and the Word of
God never ceases to amaze me. That we’d
be “strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all
patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;” (verse 11) Now we want that,
don’t we?---power, glory, sounds good, doesn’t it? Watch these guys on TV, ‘Glory! Power! In the name of JEESUS! POWER!’ And when you hear all that stuff, what’s in
your mind? Besides, ‘Turn down the
sound and just watch this guy,’ what is it, and what is it in context with
what you’re seeing? Usually it’s in
context of a big offering and a second offering. [i.e. money-hungry televangelists] But it’s in context with people getting slain
in the spirit. But look what he says
here, “strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto
all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;” I need Divine power to
be patient, I don’t know about you, I understand this perfectly. Put me in a traffic jam, something
supernatural has to happen in my heart at that point in time, to stay
sanctified. [i.e. “practical sanctification.” There are two types of sanctification, “positional” and “practical.” He’s talking about “practical
sanctification.” see: http://www.unityinchrist.com/corinthians/1st%20Corinthians.htm] “his glorious power unto all patience”,
that’s Greek hupomene, willing to bear up under situations
when there’s pressure…and that’s when we fall apart, isn’t it? We need to bear up under pressure in
situations the way that the Lord wants us to, that we’d be pleasing. And longsuffering, that is a word related to
human beings. Whatever the first word is
related to, “all patience,” the second one is related to other human
beings. And I get the idea, to be in
this world that has six billion, over six billion human beings, and to be in
this church of several thousand, you need longsuffering. And God wants to see it in your life. And why shouldn’t we give it to each other,
because who is there that is not the beneficiary of the longsuffering of Jesus
Christ in our own lives? If this was based
on perfection, he would have struck me with lightning a long time ago. ‘Sorry, BLAM!!! Next pastor.’ Everybody’d be in line for that job
[laughter]. His longsuffering, his
longsuffering, he desires to see it manifested in our lives, “with
joyfulness.” Now, you know, I don’t
put those words together, “patience, longsuffering and joy.” In my mind I put “Leave me alone” with
“joy.” [laughter] “Let me alone,” with “joy.” “Continually leave me alone,” with
“joy.” In the present perfect tense
“leave me alone with joy.” Then I’m
joyful, just let me alone, let me sit, let me space out, let me be quiet. I don’t put together “patience” and
“longsuffering” with “joyfulness”, God does, God does. You know, I’m not teaching this because I
have it nailed down. I’m teaching this
because it’s true, it’s the Word of God. So you can all remember to pray for me, that I would have patience and
longsuffering, with joy. Ok? It’s not a confession, I’m just trying to be
an example to you, because I know you need the same things, too.
‘He Has Made
Us “Qualified” To Be Partakers Of The Inheritance Of The Saints In Light’
“Giving
thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the
inheritance of the saints in light:” (verse 12) ‘Who hath made us qualified, who
hath made us,’ the idea is, ‘he has made us into the condition where
we are qualified to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.’ He has done that, he’s done that. Is there anything in us? You know, when the Lord descends with a
shout, the voice of the Archangel and the Trumpet of God, whenever you believe
that is, is there anything in us that defies gravity? Is there anything in us that’s so holy that
as soon as he gives us the chance, this mortal will put on immortality and this
corruption will put on incorruption? He has made us fitted for this, qualified for this, to present us before
his throne faultless, with exceeding joy. Paul says, ‘I want you to know that, it’s part of you, it’s part
of what I want you to grow in, giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made
us qualified to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.’ ‘Joe, why do you deserve to go to heaven
[up to the Sea of Glass for the Wedding of the Lamb]?’ ‘I’m qualified, didn’t you read my
resume’? I’m qualified.’ I mean, why should you be in the kingdom
of heaven, shining like the sun, like the stars of heaven throughout eternity,
holy and spotless and beautiful and glorious, and a king and a priest? ‘Well, I’m qualified, that’s why.’ ‘What do you mean you’re qualified?’ ‘Well
I’m a sinner saved by grace. I went to
Jesus, I told him I was a sinner, I asked him for his forgiveness, his strength
to repent and turn away from my old life, asked him to fill me with his Spirit,
and I’m qualified. I provided the
sinner, and he provided the Saviour. We
have a deal.’ ‘I am qualified to be a
partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light.’ “Who hath delivered us from the
power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son:” (verse 13) He has literally
rescued us, he has rescued us from the power of darkness. Now whether you know that or not, you needed
to be rescued from the power of darkness. Because when I was shackled by the powers of darkness, I didn’t even know
I was shackled. I was having a great
time. ‘Kill me a little more today,
this is great, I’m dying, it’s wonderful, if I die today I’m going to hell,’ I was out of my mind, I needed to be rescued. I was so deceived, I didn’t know eternity was real. I was meditating, dropping acid, swallowing
rags, I was out of my mind. [part of
Indian Yoga] I needed to be
rescued. It says that, that he’s rescued
us, ‘who hath rescued us from the power of darkness,’ “and hath
translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:”, the kingdom of his
“dear Son.” He’s taken us and rescued
us. And you know, like ancient armies
would take a people and displace them, and put them in another place, God has
done that with us [but in a much nicer manner than those ancient armies]. He’s translated us into the kingdom of his
dear Son. It says today, we’re seated in
heavenly places with Christ Jesus, we are in Christ and in Philadelphia, two
addresses. “In whom we have
redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:” (verse
14) And there’s a definite article
“in whom we have the redemption.” “through his blood, even through the
forgiveness of sins.” So, no wonder
he’s saying, ‘I thank God, because I’ve heard about your faith in Christ
Jesus, and then the fruit of that, the love, the hope,’ and then he goes
through this whole prayer, the things that are relative to that, that he’s
praying. And he’s gong to say, ‘All
of that is in Christ Jesus.’ All of
it’s in Christ Jesus. That’s nothing to
be ashamed of. All of it’s in Christ
Jesus. You know the civil service in
this city can sign any legislation they want, I am not ashamed of Christ
Jesus. They can tell me that I am not
allowed to publicly believe what I believe, I believe it publicly, I believe it
privately, I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And if it means they put me on the guillotine
and take off my head, then that’s what my head was made for, let it bounce on
the ground and I’ll go to heaven. I’m
not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. He
says, ‘All of this is ours, in Christ Jesus.’ And then he goes, I don’t know, I want to
take a lot of time here, but we’ll hit it, and back up and run over it again
next week if the Lord tarries, and if not you’ll see it for yourself. Now what he’s going to do, he’s going to talk
about his divinity, he’s going to talk about the fact that he’s eternal, he’s
going to talk about the fact that he’s the Creator, the Sustainer, that he’s
sovereign, that his providence rules everything, that he’s the head of the
Church. He’s going to say this to the
Colossians because they had been demeaning the person of Christ. They had believed, believing less
things. You know you hear this today, ‘That
Jesus is one of the ascended Masters. Oh
yeah, I believe in Jesus, he went to India, he went to the Himalayas, and he
sat there and got enlightened.’ No
he didn’t. It says ‘He went to the
synagogue on the Sabbath as was his custom. Isn’t this the carpenter’s son, the kid who grew up in Nazareth with
us?’ He didn’t go to India. He didn’t go up in a saucer,
flying-saucer. He is the Jewish Messiah,
of the line of David, of the tribe of Judah, born of a virgin, the Jewish
Messiah, Jesus Christ [Hebrew: Yeshua haMeshiach].
Who Is Jesus,
Really?
Verses
15-18, Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every
creature: for by him were all things
created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or
powers: all things were created by him,
and for him: and he is before all
things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the
dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.” And
he is, Paul says, “who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of
every creature:” (verse 15) He is
Divine, he is the image of the invisible God. Jesus said, ‘if you’ve seen me, you have seen the Father.’ ‘In the beginning was the Word, the Word was
with God, and the Word was God, and the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among
us, and we beheld his glory, as the only begotten of the Father full of grace
and truth.’ (cf. John 1) No man at any time hath seen God, but Jesus
Christ has displayed him. He is the
image of the invisible God. ‘Well what
do you mean God, don’t give me all this God stuff, where is he?’ Well God is inscrutable, you can’t examine
him, he’s the invisible God. He’s the
invisible God, you can’t see him. He’s
eternal, he’s invisible. But he’s done
this. He’s manifested himself. It says here, that he’s [Jesus, that is] the
image, we get the word “icon” from that, we get the word “impress” from that,
like the king would take his ring and make an impression. It’s almost as if God pushed his face into
the material world and made an impress. Ever see one of those things with all of those metal nails or rods and
you put your face in it and pull it out and there’s an impression of it
there? That’s the idea, that God, Jesus
Christ is the “impress” of the invisible God onto this material world. So that if you have seen him [Jesus], you
have seen the Father. He’s talking about
his [Jesus Christ’s] Divinity. He is
what the invisible God is, in essence and nature. He is the image of the invisible God. When Adam and Eve were created, they were
created in the image and likeness of God. What image? The image of God the
Son. God the Father is Spirit, they were
created in the image of a pre-existing one. He is the image, this One who has died for us, whose come for us, who
suffered for us, he is the image of the invisible God, he’s Divine, he is “the
firstborn of every creature:” Now,
Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormons, and there are those who are going to say, ‘Well,
you see that, he’s not God, how can he be God and be the firstborn? So he’s less than God, because it says he’s
the firstborn.’ Well, if you look
down in verse 17, it says “And he is before all things, and by him
all things consist.” It says in
verse 18, he’s “the firstborn from the dead;”. What, was he the firstborn from the
dead? No, Lazarus was raised from the
dead before him, there’s others that were raised from the dead before him. He’s the firstborn from the dead in
that he is the pre-eminent, the only one born from the dead that produces life
for everyone else thereafter that would be born from the dead. And here where it says “he is the
firstborn”, it is “he is the pre-eminent One of all creation”. Why, verse 16 tells us, “because” is
the idea, King James says, “For by him were all things created, that are in
heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible,” and the idea is, in
his person. It isn’t just that the
Father created everything that exists through the Son, that’s not what it’s
saying. It says [in John 1:1-14] ‘In
the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and
all things were made by him, there was nothing that was made that was not made
by him.’ It says, here, he is
pre-eminent in all creation, he’s Divine, but he’s pre-existent also. He can’t be the image of God, whose eternal,
and pre-existent, unless he is eternal and pre-existent. And that makes him Sovereign or Divine or
Pre-eminent over all created things, because all of those things were made in
him. And verse 16 gives us some
interesting things, look it says, “For by him were all things created, that
are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:” ‘visible, and invisible,’ notice the
invisible world created by him. “created
by him,” notice, that’s a different word, it means ‘issuing forth
from him,’ “and for him:”, ‘going to him:’ the
Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. Everything was made by him. It
was all made by him in such a way, that it all issued forth from him, and it is
all ultimately returning to him. He is
pre-existent. He is Divine. He is eternal. All things were made issuing forth from him,
and all things are on their way back to him. That’s what our lives are all about. You were created for him. Not for
your boyfriend, not for your girlfriend, your husband or your wife, for
him. Revelation chapter 4 tells us ‘all
things were created for his pleasure, were all things created.’ Not that he’s an ego-maniac. His pleasure is to fellowship with you. His pleasure is to exalt you. His pleasure is to cleanse you, and to wash
you, and to redeem you, and to embrace you. He compares his relationship to us as that of a shepherd to his flock,
or of a father to his children, or of a groom to the bride. ‘All things have issued forth from him,
Jesus Christ, who is the image of the invisible God, and all things are on
their way to consummating in him.’ You know, what’s interesting, the word “gospel” is used one hundred and
one times in the New Testament. The
first time it’s used in Matthew chapter 4, verse 23, it talks there about “the
gospel of the kingdom,” looking forward to the consummation. The last time it’s used in Revelation 14,
verses 6 and 7, it talks about “the everlasting gospel”, talks about from the
beginning to the everlasting. So from
the front it’s looking to the back, and from the back it’s looking to the
front, the gospel of the kingdom gives us the blessed hope, the everlasting
gospel gives us the foundation. And the
Gospel of Christ has a sure foundation and a blessed hope, and in the middle it
is built on the blood and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. What an incredible picture. [see, http://www.unityinchrist.com/misc/WhatIsTheGospel%20.htm]
Jesus Is Both
Creator And Sustainer Of Everything
He
says it’s happening this way because “he is before all things, and by him
all things consist.” (verse 17) He
had said that, remember he said, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” He is
before all things. And what it’s going
to say to us is this, (I can’t believe it’s five of)…He’s saying to us, ‘He
is God, very God, he is Creator, and he is Sustainer.’ It’s pointing to his sovereignty and his
pre-eminence. Not only is he the image
of the invisible God, not only has everything issued forth from him in his own
creative power, not only is it all going to him in consummation, but this
pre-existent one is also both Creator and Sustainer, “by him all things
consist”, they’re existing today, by him. Sitting in this room, this floor, this carpet, this mike stand, you, the
pew you’re sitting on, he’s holding it all together, he’s sustaining. His providence, effective in our lives every
day. “by him all things
consist”, the very structure of the
universe, his work, presently. Again,
you know scientists, when they study atomic structure, are astounded about the
mysteries of it. They don’t understand
it. Because in the nucleus of the atom
you have a cluster of protons. Revolving
around them you have electrons. There’s
a problem there. Because protons should
never be in a cluster. Have you ever
taken two positive ends of magnets and tried to push them together, they push
apart. It you switch around and put a
negative and positive end together, they go together like that snap! Opposites attract. But if you put two positive ends together,
there’s no reason for that nucleus of that atom to stay together. They don’t understand what holds it
together. [They use the term gluons,
an imaginary particle-force, that holds protons together. They’ve never seen this imaginary
force-particle.] And the electrons have
a negative charge, they’re circling around it, they should collapse right into
it [the nucleus]. The protons should be
blowing apart [which they do in a nuclear explosion]. Science talks about Coulombs law, repelling
positive charges. So, atomic structure,
a mystery. As scientists are seeking,
you know, as they develop nuclear weapons and as they are splitting the atom,
they’re working with anti-matter and protons [and now quarks], and so forth,
they’ve discovered that it takes 600,000 electron-watts to separate one proton
from the center of a nucleus, to drive a proton in there and separate the
center of a nucleus. If you take one
gram of protons, ok, do that tomorrow, just listen to me. That’s one one-hundred and fifty fourth of a
pound, imagine how small that is, 1/154th of a pound, one gram of
protons, and you put one gram of protons at the North Pole, and you put one
gram of protons at the South Pole, that’s 8,000 miles apart, it will take
50,000lbs to keep them from pushing apart. You’ll have to put fifty-thousand pounds on each end of the planet to
keep the one gram of protons from pushing apart from the other gram of protons,
8000 miles from all that dirt and rock on the other side. That’s how powerful the force is to push
apart. Well what’s holding all of that
together? Well, excuse me [laughter], “he
is before all things, and by him all things consist”, they all cohere, he’s
not only the Creator, he’s the Sustainer, he’s actively holding it all
together. We’re told this in 2nd Peter, ‘the day is coming, the Lord is not slack concerning his
promise as some count slackness, but is longsuffering to us, not willing that
any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief
in the night, in the which that the heavens shall pass away with a great
noise,’ so listen, the Big Bang isn’t at the beginning [well, one was,
it marked the beginning of the creation of the physical universe] it’s at the
end, you have to remember that, this doesn’t all start with a Big Bang, it ends
with a Big Bang. ‘the heavens
shall pass away with a great noise, the elements shall melt,’ that
word’s “luo”, ‘shall be loosened’ whatever is holding them together, ‘they shall be loosened with fervent
heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be
dissolved, shall be loosened,’ the entire universe, when he lets go of
it is going to be one HUGE nuclear detonation, 20 billion light-years
wide. [personally, seeing this truth,
which is also described in Revelation 20:14-15 and Revelation 21:1, this
cataclysmic nuclear detonation now becomes the Gehenna fire described
here. Ask yourself, how long would
people condemned to the Lake of Fire suffer? Nano-seconds? Interesting
speculation, which is all we can do at this point.] ‘Seeing that all these things shall be
dissolved, and the elements shall melt, shall be loosened with fervent heat,
what manner of men should you be? Seeing
these things are going to take place,’ it’s an exhortation. The interesting thing is it takes more power,
when you see the power demonstrated in a nuclear detonation, understand this,
it takes more power to hold those atoms [proton groups] together than it does
when you see them released. The power
you see demonstrated in the release is not as great as the power that it takes
to hold them together. And he’s holding
the whole universe together.
What’s It All
Mean?
You
say, ‘Ok, big deal, let’s get the science project over with, I want to go to
Friendly’s, I need some ice cream that he’s holding together.’ OK, look, wonderful. What does it all
mean? Well you know there’s a time for
us to take off the sandals of our intellect, and to walk onto holy ground. Because ultimately what it means is that,
this One who is the Creator of all things, the very image of the invisible God,
who brought everything into existence, and as Adam and Eve fell and sin entered
in, instead of him just loosening the atomic structure of the entire universe
right then, incinerating everything and going with plan-B, what he did, was he
brought his impress onto this physical world. He entered into the womb of a virgin, he was born, the Creator, that
could tell Peter to walk on the water, that could tell the dead to rise, that
could cleanse lepers. None of that was
anything for him. But because he’s the
one sustaining everything, what it means is that when the Roman soldiers put a
bag over his head and began to beat his face, he was holding together the
knuckles of those Roman soldiers that were battering the nerve endings in his
own face, while he sustained that and sustained the pain of it. When they ripped his beard out of his face,
he held together the follicles that ripped and shredded his skin. He held together the scourge that tore the
flesh off of his back. He held together
the iron in the nails that went through his wrists, and the thorns that went
through his brow. He came into the midst
of his own creation, sustained it, and then bore responsibility for the sin of
it, and let it all come upon himself, while he sustained the whole thing. And in that he is just to grant
forgiveness for anyone who will come to him, because for time and eternity he
bore responsibility for the fall of his own creation, entering into the middle
of it, sustaining it, sustaining it as it disfigured him, sustaining it as it
brutalized him. I don’t
understand that. It’s not for
understanding, it’s for the heart, it’s for faith, it’s for hope, it’s for
love. If you’re here tonight and you
don’t know Christ as your Saviour, God, ‘Ah, he’s the guy up there with all
the rules and regulations, can’t do this, can’t do that,’ no, please, like
you’re gonna have to give something up for what you’re gonna get in
return? ‘I’m giving up this Honda to
get that Rolls Royce, really hurts me, I love that Honda. Giving up that shack to get that mansion,’ giving
up my pain and emptiness and sin, to get joy, forgiveness, love, eternity,
giving up death to get life. God doesn’t hate us, he loves us. He doesn’t want anything from us, he wants
everything for us. He came into the
midst of his own creation so that we could see who he was. He said, ‘If you have seen me, I am the
image of the invisible God, if you have seen me, you have seen the
Father.’ Paul says we see God,
we see God in Christ, on the cross, reconciling the world to himself,
sustaining his own suffering in some mystery that we’ll never
understand…[transcript of a connective expository sermon on Colossian 1:1-18
given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont
Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]
Related
links:
The
big danger the Colossians faced, Arianism. See,
http://www.unityinchrist.com/wwcofg/What%20is%20Arianism.htm
Just
What Is The Gospel? See,
http://www.unityinchrist.com/misc/WhatIsTheGospel%20.htm
Who
Is Jesus? See,
http://www.unityinchrist.com/prophecies/1stcoming.htm
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