Colossians 1:1-8

“1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2 To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father. 3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel 6 that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.”

The vertical dimension of faith then leads to the horizontal element of:

LOVE

Because of what Jesus had done in their lives, these believers got busy loving “all” of God’s people. This love that they lavished on others was agape love which has sacrifice as its key character and is displayed in actions. Love is a transforming act because it is faith in motion as Galatians 5:6 says, “…the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” Live in love, and love to live. 1 Corinthians 13 concerning the love we should portray says “Love is patient; …. love is kind; ….love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; …. it is not irritable or resentful; ….. it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, ….but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, ….believes all things, …..hopes all things, …..endures all things. …… Love never ends.” Are you living to love, are you practicing love and letting it permeate your life? Today do we really consider love a thriving aspect of living? God does and the time we stop loving is the time we stop living. Notice that they didn’t just love those they liked, they loved from the least to the beast. Our tendency is to love some not all, we want to pick and choose based on how we feel instead of being moved by faith. Sure there are those who are hard to love but remember Jesus loved Judas so what’s our excuse? Don’t just stop at liking others, let go and lavish God’s love on them.

HOPE

Our shared faith and mutual love result in our common “hope that is stored up for you in heaven.” Faith and love spring from hope because hope is the root, faith is the plant and love is the fruit. Because God has “laid up” hope for us in heaven, we can have full confidence in our faith and express our love without holding back. We don’t have to vaguely wish for something better to come when we have complete confidence in the reality of heaven. Why have faith in Christ if there is no hope for a glorious future? Why love others if it doesn’t matter in the end? Hope makes all the difference because we have a confident expectation that everything God says in His Word is true. Hope is stored up for us like a treasure, John MacArthur said one of the blessings of hope is it allows us to sacrifice the present on the altar of the future. How contrary this is to human nature, we live in a world that wants what it wants and it wants it now. We are a people who whine if we have to wait, we would rather sacrifice the future on the altar of the immediate. But if we really believe God our focus would be on the future. We would have a proper perspective and be willing to sacrifice the present comfort for that which is to come. In contrast to the buy now pay later attitude that has permeated our culture Christian’s should be paying now and picking up later. Why would we be willing to make such a sacrifice? Hope, based on faith, because we believe that the future holds something far better than the present. Colossians introduces us to God’s trilogy of virtue, faith, love, and hope. Faith is the soul looking upward to God; love looks outward to others; hope looks forward to the future. Faith rests on the past work of Christ; love works in the present; and hope anticipates the future. Not only was Paul thankful for the body but also the:

3. BIBLE

The Gospel is the truth of God the good news available to all and Paul rejoiced because the gospel was going out “all over the world.” The gospel that came to the city of Colossae is the same gospel going around the globe. God has one message of good news, one word of truth for everyone. The gospel is to be shared with others because it is the word of truth and there is no other truth worth proclaiming. Christians should be committed to proclaiming the good news of the gospel not just in their community but in every continent. It is the Gospel that produces life and growth and Paul says it’s the Word that changes lives. It amazes me how many made resolutions for change without ever including the reading of God’s word. We want to change our bodies but what about our beliefs, we want to change our health but what about our hearts? Are you thankful for the truth, is the Gospel of God’s good news penetrating and permeating your life? Paul was also thankful for:

4. BROTER EPAPHRAS

He was a fellow servant and a “faithful minister of Christ.” He faithfully took the message of grace to them and Epaphras both evangelized Colossae and edified the believers. The verb “learned” is the basis of the word “disciple.” He was a native of Colossae (4:12) who was probably converted to Christ while visiting Ephesus during Paul’s stay there. He then returned to his city and began the church. He was vigilant in prayer and loyal to the point of being will to suffer whatever hardships necessary to serve the church as Christ’s ambassador. If you were mentioned in the Bible, what would be said of you? God’s plan has always been to use us to bring the good news of the gospel to a dying world. Epaphras was faithful in spreading the seed are you? Today more than ever we need bold believers willing to share their faith. Are you thankful for brothers and sisters who share God’s Word? What if instead of seeing people as a pain you took the time to praise God for the blessing of other believers? This week when you pray instead of praying prayers that start with, “Lord, please give me…” begin your prayers with thanks for all that God has done. Several years ago I encouraged families to start a Blessings box or jar. I asked them to take the time to write out their “blessings” on small slips of paper and add them to their box as they happen. Then at the end of each month sit together as a family and take turns reading all of the blessings in your box. This week would you be willing to identify one person that you have a hard time loving and ask God to help you lavish His love on them. Instead of seeing this as a pain and a problem start look at it as a privilege, because of this person you have the opportunity to put your faith into action and practice love.

Colossians 1:1-8

“1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2 To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father. 3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel 6 that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.”

In the book of Colossians we come face to face with a man who practiced both prayer and praise despite the difficulties that he faced. Paul starts out teaching thankfulness even though his present problems involved prison. Paul didn’t let his problems dictate his priorities. Instead of focusing on his trials he focused on thanks, teaching us a great truth about thanks giving, it is not tied to our circumstances but to Christ.  Our praise is a reflection of our priorities, and at the very start Paul’s priority was thankfulness. He makes thankfulness and praise his priority saying we “always” give thanks and that thanks goes to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul points His praise first to Christ and second to people. Our tendency is to use praise to serve self and not the Savior, but Paul doesn’t save praise for self he spends it serving others. Why do we point our praise to self, pride, a problem that is present in all people. On some level we all battle with boasting, pride wants to position and proclaim self. How do you know if you have a problem with pride, answer this question, how often does your ego have to eat, how often do you have to feed it? Paul’s praise points us to who should have priority in our lives, the Lord Jesus Christ. This triple name expresses the divinity, humanity, and sacrifice of the Savior. The title “Lord” refers to His deity, He is God and Lord of all. The name “Jesus” speaks of his incarnation, He was born into the human race and walked on this earth. “Christ” reminds us that He came and carried the cross, the Savior who sacrificed for our sins. So because thanksgiving is a priority Paul starts not with an ordinary greeting but a:

1. BLESSING

The greeting becomes a blessing. “Grace to you and peace from God our Father.” Grace to you and peace was the greeting Paul used to open all 13 of his letters. He chose “grace” God’s gift of unmerited favor, kindness from God we don’t deserve, His benevolence to the undeserving. Grace is God choosing to bless us and through Christ remove the curse of sin. Peace is what results when God’s grace is received. Grace is God’s provision for the Christian life, Peace is the enjoyment of those provisions. Grace always precedes peace and if someone does not have peace in their life, it may be because they’ve not yet experienced grace. Ultimately the Roman Empire that Paul lived in couldn’t deliver peace, Pax Romana, and neither will our Western society. Perfect and lasting peace comes when we are reconciled to God through Christ, not through culture. Peace is God’s provision; it doesn’t come through ‘powers and principalities’ which capture us through deceptive philosophy. It is here that we see the supremacy and sufficiency of our Savior. Paul is thankful for the:

2. BODY the church

Who is the church? The letter is addressed to those “in Christ,” a phrased used by Paul more than 160 times in various forms. It emphasizes the spiritual position of believers. They are “in Christ” meaning they are united with Christ, joined to Him as limbs are joined to the body. Which should cause us to ask several questions: First are you part of the body, are you in Christ, are you saved or separated? Second if you are saved and are part of the body are you allowing Christ to operate as the head? Third, are you thankful for the body of Christ? Do you look at the church as a blessing or a bother, is your perception of God’s people one of pain or privilege? As Paul focuses on the believers in Christ he expresses a triad of thanksgiving. Even though he had never visited the Christians at Colossae, he heard of their faith, their love, and their hope. This is very similar to what he wrote in 1 Thessalonians 1:3: “We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” While these three virtues are linked together in other passages, the phrase is not a faith formula, thrown in for effect, but a genuine statement in which each word is profoundly significant.

• FAITH

Faith is mentioned first because it is the starting place for everything else in the Christian life. Faith is our vertical connection and faith in Christ is the first mark of a mature fellowship. They weren’t commended because they had everything in common but because they had put their trust and confidence “in Christ Jesus.” It’s amazing to me that the testimony of their faith reached all the way to Paul in a Roman prison. I wonder how far is your faith reaching? The author of Hebrews tells us that without faith, it is impossible to please God. Therefore, the church that gathers together without believing God is going to work will not experience renewal, revival, or blessing. Faith opens the door of the soul to receive the Savior; faith not only admits Him, but it also submits to Him. Faith isn’t just the start it’s the sustainer yet so often instead of walking by faith we are found withdrawing in fear. We are not called to a life of worry and fear but a walk of faith. Do you realize that a dense fog covering a cubic mile is composed of less than one gallon of water. When water is divided into billions of droplets a small amount can create a catastrophe of gloom, crippling an entire city and creating chaos. Worry and anxiety are like that, just a small amount can settle on you like a dense fog of gloom, keeping you from living the life the Lord intended you to live. Fear deteriorates the quality of our lives and can even destroy us physically. But faith breathes life and joy into our bruises and burdens, bringing healing to our hearts. Jesus called us to focus on faith and not fear when he said in Matthew 6:25-26: “Look at the birds of the air ….they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ….Who of you by worrying …. can add a single hour to your life?” Faith means to trust. Who do you trust? Whose hands are you really put your life in? Who do you turn to in the trials, is Jesus the Focus of your Faith? Are you pursuing a life of freedom through faith or living in the prison of fear? So many of us get caught in the trap of a thankless life because we focus on the fears and not faith. Are you thankful for the blessings and the body or have you let yourself become blind to the blessings and bitter with the body? Often this leads to living life on our own, we say that we have stopped “going” to church, the reality is that we have stopped doing life with the body. We claim that we still love Christ the problem is that while we are holding onto His head we are hating His body. Paul was passionate about the body despite the problems, look there are no perfect people just a perfect Savior at work within us. Paul chose to focus on the perfection of Christ not the problems of His children. Why are we disappointed and disillusioned with the church today, because we are placing our hope in the body and not the head. But when you have your hope in the head you can build up and believe in the body.