Fulness in Christ

Colossians 2:6-23

1.a. How did the Colossians receive Christ Jesus as Lord? (For review see 1:3-6)

b.How does one walk in Christ, just as they have received Him?

c. Can you think of reasons why you or another believer may stop growing in Christ?

Christ the Antidote to Human Philosophy (8-10)

2. a. Contrast the words Paul uses to describe human wisdom (8) with what Christians have been given in Christ (9-10).

b. What are some current examples of human wisdom, and how does it fall short of providing the answers people need today? 

3. How do the following verses aid your understanding of what it means to have been given fullness in Christ? 

John 1:16

Eph. 1:22-23

Eph. 3:17b-19

Eph. 4:11-13

Col. 1:19

Col. 1:25

Christ the Antidote to Jewish Legality (11-17)

4. a.What does circumcision symbolize for the believer?  (See also Rom. 2:29, Phil. 3:3)

b. What is the baptism Paul is referring to in this passage?  (See 1 Cor. 12:13.)  Explain your answer if possible.

c.  What was Paul trying teach the Colossians with this example about baptism and circumcision?

5. In verses 13-15, what verbs describe the actions God initiated on our behalf? 

b. Why were these actions necessary, and what did they accomplish?

6.a. What regulations were false teachers using to judge Colossian believers? (16)

b. By what “legalistic” standards can believers wrongly judge others today?

c. Why are human standards a poor judge of a person’s relationship with Christ?

Christ the Antidote to Oriental Mysticism (18-19)

7.a. In verses 18-19 Paul is countering mysticism taught by false teachers.  What did these false teachers claim?

b. What examples of mysticism do you see in the church today?  (Or in cults sometimes affiliated with the church?)

c. How does Paul describe such people in verses 18-19?

Christ the Antidote to Carnal Asceticism (20-23)

8. a. What other kinds of rules are being promoted, according to verses 20-21?

b. Why are these really not helpful but actually harmful?

c. Can you think of modern-day examples of such rules?

Conclusion

9. How many times can you find the phrases “in Christ” or “with Christ” used in this passage?  What do you learn from this?

10. How does this passage equip you to defend against false teaching?  Please indicate if something has specifically helped you.

*The divisions for this study were taken from H.A. Ironside’s commentary on Colossians.

Loving Christ's Church: Colossians 1:24-2:5

How would you fill in this blank?   “Love me, love my _______________.”

When my husband and I began dating, there were certain things we had to know and appreciate about each other for our relationship to continue to grow.  For my husband, it was “love me, love my computer.”  For me, it was “love me, love my cat.”  Both took some life adjustments on our part (I knew nothing about computers and had little interest beyond word processing, and my yet-to-be-husband was allergic to cats.)  However, our love for each other was deepened as we shared in each other’s interests.  I still don’t know much about computers, but as I have watched and learned some things from my husband over the years, I have come to appreciate more about how God has made him and how his mind works. 

This is a shallow example of a more profound analogy regarding Christ.  Last week we studied the magnificence of Jesus’ supremacy and caught a sense of Paul’s adoration for Jesus as Lord of all.  As we grow in love for Him and submit to His authority over our lives, we begin to love what Jesus loves.  And what Jesus loves, the very reason He came, was to glorify God by paying the price for His church.  If we love Jesus, we will love His church.  From Paul’s example in Col. 1:24-2:5, we learn that those who love Christ will endeavor to see His church built.

I want to talk in Col. 1:24-27 about the mystery of the church (to love Christ is to love His church), and talk about Paul’s desire to present everyone mature (to love His church is to desire maturity in its members).

In Col 1:27, Paul proclaims the mystery of Christ.  What is the mystery Paul is proclaiming?  What indeed!  Every commentary I looked at came at it from a different angle. There are a couple of ways to think about that.  I could say, “well, I have to find out who is right!”  Or, perhaps, this mystery is something so immense, so beyond something you could define in just a few words, that it can’t be summed up in one definition.  I think that is more the sense I get here.  This mystery is more like a diamond that can be viewed in its many facets.  Since verse 27 states the mystery is “Christ in you”, let’s begin there and see what we can learn.  I’m going to highlight each of these words and see what light they can shed on this mystery.

First, the mystery is Christ Himself.  That is essentially what Paul was saying in 2:2 as well “the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ.”  Though the OT foretold the coming of a Messiah, much about God’s plan was shrouded in mystery.  Perhaps the hardest to understand and the most mysterious part of Messiah was that He had to suffer.  Even the disciples who followed Jesus and proclaimed Him as Messiah during His earthly ministry seemed rather clueless about His suffering.  Jesus warned the disciples several times that He would suffer many things, be rejected by the leaders, be killed, and three days later rise again.  Mark 8:32 even says he explained these things plainly.  Yet Peter rebuked Jesus for saying these very words.  The disciples were completely unprepared for His betrayal, and did not even begin to comprehend a Messiah who must suffer, be killed, and rise again to pay for the sins of mankind.  Twice at the end of Luke it says that as Jesus talked with His disciples about these things, He had to open their minds to understand everything written in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms as fulfilled in Him.

Second, the mystery is Christ in you.   In the Old Testament, God came to dwell with the nation of Israel.  Yet His dwelling place was quite separated from man by many barriers and His holy presence could only be entered once a year by the Most High Priest by the blood of a sacrifice, ceremonial washings, and God-given rituals that dealt with sin.  It was quite clear to any knowledgeable Jew:  man’s sin separated him from God.  Yet Jesus came and lived a perfect life, and provided a blood sacrifice that satisfied the wrath of God for sin.   Now, the man who trusted in the righteous sacrifice of Jesus became a temple in which God Himself was pleased to dwell.  That Christ could dwell in His people and that He chooses to do so is a wonderful, amazing mystery!  With that gift we have been given His righteousness, access to the God of Heaven, and all His storehouse of wisdom and knowledge in Christ.

Third, the mystery is Christ in you.  The “you” refers to church members in Colossae.  This church was made up of believing Jews as well as Gentiles.  The message that Christ had come for the Gentiles was not only foreign to the Jews, it infuriated them.   When Paul was arrested in Jerusalem on false charges, the Jews listened patiently to Paul’s testimony and defense until he used the word Gentile (Acts 22:21).  In Acts 22:22 it says “Up to this word they listened to him. Then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth!”  They began to shout death threats, threw off their cloaks, and threw dust in the air, dragging Paul away.  From this time forth Paul became a Roman prisoner, and it was during this imprisonment most scholars believe he wrote the letter of Colossians.  It may be easy to dismiss ourselves from this Jew/Gentile conflict since this has ceased to be a daily issue for our time and culture.  Yet think of this: as far as I know, every person in this room is a Gentile.  Do we realize now, two thousand years later, how much we owe to Paul for his willingness to suffer to fully proclaim the mystery of Christ to Gentiles?  Have you marveled over the privilege God has given us Gentiles in His offer of salvation?

Put these three words together, and we have “Christ in you.”  One facet of the mystery of Christ is the church.  What a love Paul had for the church, because he loved Christ, and knew He had given Himself as a sacrifice for her sake!  As your love for Christ grows, have you noticed a growing love for His church, of which you were made a part?  How will you demonstrate your love for Christ’s church?

II. How did Paul demonstrate his love for the church?  That is what we will look at next.  Let’s  move from mystery to maturity.  In verse 28 we see that Paul’s love for the church fueled in him a desire to present everyone mature in Christ.  And for each believer, maturity of believers is our goal.  Whether you are engaged in an area of ministry, building a strong family, raising godly children, or encouraging a fellow believer, you are a part of this process of maturity.  We get a glimpse of what maturity looks like from 2:2-4: encouraged hearts, love, enriched understanding and knowledge of Christ, and protection from the deception of false teaching.  (We’ll talk more about marks of maturity in Ch. 3-4)

Maturity does not come easily.  When a new baby is born, we rejoice over the gift of a new life.  How absurd (and potentially life-threatening) would it be to neglect that new life, thinking the child will somehow reach maturity of its own accord?  No, as any parent knows, the road to maturity is costly, demanding, and full of challenges as well as joys.  As I considered how easy it is to get sidetracked, whether in parenting a child to maturity or helping myself or another member of the church to grow in Christ, I saw some weaknesses.  I tend to get caught up in temporal problems, I get self-focused, and can be terribly task-oriented.  I noticed Paul was quite different!  So how did Paul purpose to move God’s people to maturity, and how can we do the same?

First, Paul had an eternal perspective.  His willingness to minister on behalf of Christ’s church cost him his comfort, his freedom, and eventually even his life.  Yet he was able to rejoice in his sufferings because he saw the bigger picture.  He saw “the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”  When he saw the church, he saw what God intended for their future, a blessed future in Christ.

Next, Paul was Christ-focused.  In verse 28 it reads, “Him we proclaim.”  Paul didn’t promote a program, a method, spiritual attainments, or lofty ideas (as the Gnostic teachers did.)  He simply proclaimed a person: Christ.  How many times in the passage, even in this letter, do you see the word Christ?  Paul also does not attempt to carry this task out alone, but in the midst of his struggle and toil he is “struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works in me.” 

Finally, Paul was people-oriented.  He loved the church, but he was concerned for every individual.  This becomes quite clear in verse 28 with the repetition of the word “everyone.”  Paul  was “warning everyone, teaching everyone, so we may present everyone mature in Christ.”  The body is strengthened one soul at a time.  That is why every one of us can play a part, whether in pursuing maturity in our own walk with Christ or in leading others.

Here’s something I am going to do this next week, and I’ll challenge you to do the same.  Each morning, pray for at least one person you would like to see grow in Christ.  Perhaps it is a friend, a child, a Sunday school class, or maybe you need to strive for maturity in your own life!  As you pray, ask God the following questions:

1.       Would you help me to see your eternal purpose for this person/situation?

2.       How would you have me bring Christ into my conversation/interactions/thoughts regarding this person?  Will you empower me as I interact with them to move them toward maturity?

3.       How do I need to warn or teach this person?

It is in union with Christ, loving and building His church, where we will really begin to know Him.  While suffering for the church Paul wrote in Phi. 3:10 “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings.”  When it comes to Christ and the church, you cannot really separate the two.  Love Christ, love His church.  Let’s leave this section of Colossians ready to build His church, person by person, soul by soul! 

Paul's Proclamation of Christ

I. Paul’s struggle in proclamation (1:24-27)

1.a. How does Paul describe his attitude and manner by which he is bringing the Word of God about Christ to the Colossian church?

b. How do God’s people “share in the afflictions of Christ”?  (See John 15:18-19, Rom. 8:36, and 2 Tim. 3:12 for examples)

c. In your opinion, can the gospel be advanced without some kind of suffering on the part of believers?  Why or why not? 

d. How can we rejoice in this suffering?  (See Acts 5:41 and 1 Peter 4:13-16)

2. a. “Mystery” is a truth that has been kept hidden but is now revealed.  In this passage the mystery Paul refers to was hidden in the OT but revealed by Christ before and especially after His death, resurrection, and ascension.  What is the mystery God has commissioned Paul to proclaim to the church?

b. Why was this a mystery in the OT?  How was it revealed by God in the NT?

3.What difference does it make to know Christ dwells in you?  How does this give you hope?

II. Paul’s method of proclamation (1:28-29)

4. How does Paul describe his method of proclaiming God’s truth about Christ?

b. What is Paul’s goal?  (Perfect in this passage means “complete” or “mature.”)

c. How will he accomplish this goal?

d. What does Paul’s example teach you about sharing Christ with others?

III. Paul’s purpose in proclamation (2:1-5)

5. For what purpose is Paul struggling in verses 2-3?

b. What was the condition of the church of Laodicea over 30 years later?  (See Rev. 3:14-22)  What warning do you receive from this knowledge?

c. Was Paul’s labor and struggle in vain?  (See 1 Cor. 15:58)  Explain.

d. How does this encourage you to press on when you don’t see results, whether in sharing the gospel with unbelievers or encouraging believers to live it?

6. a. Where are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden?  How does this compare to where people are looking for wisdom and knowledge today?

b. How will you point others to the knowledge of Christ?

7. What was Paul hoping to accomplish by presenting the truth of Christ to this church?  (See verse 4)

b. How does firm faith in Christ (5) guard our hearts and minds from deception?

c. As you survey our culture and world today, where do believers have to be especially on guard against deception? 

8. a. Go back over this passage one more time.  What is God’s purpose for believers, and how will He accomplish it?

b. How do your purposes line up with His?  What steps will you take to align yourself with God’s desire for His people?

The Uniqueness of Christ: Colossians 1:15-23

While I was teaching the study of Colossians at my church, my husband brought me the May 2009 issue of Christianity Today.  “Isn’t this what you’ve been teaching on?” he asked.  The article talked about syncretism!  (Syncretism is the combination of different beliefs and religious practices.)  I wanted to share a few pieces of this article with you.  It spoke of a troubling shift in a particular church denomination, along with many mainline Protestant communities “towards religious pluralism, the belief that there are diverse paths to God.”  It says, “clearly there are people, including religious leaders, who find spiritual wisdom in faiths other than their own.”  Surveys of American baby boomers—Protestant, Catholic, or Jewish, liberal or conservative—all showed a trend toward a cafeteria-style religion where one believes in whatever works best for him or her.  An Aug. 2008 survey conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public life showed 52 percent of American Christians overall and 47 percent of evangelical Christians believe that some non-Christian faiths can lead to eternal life.  The authors of this article noted the challenge for (the denomination named) and all denominations to respond to the question, ‘What’s so special about Jesus?’” 

Is Christianity simply one of many roads that lead to God?  The resounding answer of the Bible is “No!” That is most certainly what our culture wants us to believe.  It seems to be doing a good job of convincing many even in the church.  Yet when we study Colossians, we will come to a very different conclusion.  As we read Paul’s lofty praise for Christ, we see Jesus Christ is unique in His capacity to reconcile men to God.  He alone is “the way, the truth, and the life,” and Christianity is the only religion that contains the truth about salvation. Colossians 1:15-23 shows this clearly as it presents both the person and the work of Jesus Christ. 

I.                    Jesus Christ is unique in His person (15-18)

II.                  Jesus Christ is unique in His work (19-23)

First, Jesus Christ is unique in His person.  Let’s take this phrase by phrase.  Verse 15 states “He is the image of the invisible God.”  Paul begins with a claim to Jesus’ unique deity.  Though God in His essence is invisible, we have in Jesus an “exact representation and revelation.”  That is what the word “image” means as used in this verse.  The word used goes beyond giving us a picture of what God is like to showing us the very character of God Himself.  The writer of Hebrews captures this meaning best when he says the Son is “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.”  Jesus Christ is the image of God because Christ is deity.  (It’s also interesting to note that the dictionary also defines image as an icon or idol.  However, worshipping Jesus is not idolatry because an idol is any “image, form, or representation of creation consecrated as an object of worship.”  When we worship Jesus, we are not worshipping part of God’s creation but the Creator, as we will see in the phrases that follow.)

Jesus is also unique over creation.  The rest of verse 15 reads he is “the firstborn over all creation.”  Firstborn does not refer to Christ being created though many false teachers and cults (including Jehovah’s Witnesses) would argue this.  Instead, firstborn refers to position.  Think of the OT usage of the term firstborn.  It gave a special position and portion to the eldest male in the family.  The firstborn had a right to the blessing and to a double inheritance.  Yet think of Jacob, Joseph, Solomon, and others who held this position though they were not actually the eldest male.  The people of Israel were also referred to as God’s firstborn although they were certainly not the first nation.  They had a special position as God’s people.  Christ is firstborn in His position, and He is firstborn because He is God, and therefore He is eternal, and because (as the next phrase says,) He created all things. 

So we see in verse 16, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him.”  Everything you see and can’t see, in the natural world and in the supernatural, was created by and through and for Christ.  No wonder the winds and the waves obeyed Him!  He created them!  The use of three prepositions (by, through, for) were Paul’s defense against the false teachers.  Greek philosophers taught that everything needed a primary cause, and instrumental cause, and a final cause.  Paul is claiming that Jesus Christ is the primary cause (He planned creation), the instrumental cause (He brought creation into being), and the final cause (He did it for His own pleasure). 

And (in verse 17) “in Him all things hold together.”  Consider the power of this statement!  We have evidence of what happens when an atom is split: atomic power.  Scientists have admitted that they do not know what holds an atom together, yet we see the power unleashed when it comes apart.  We know who is holding all things together: it is Christ!  Can you imagine the power it took to both create this universe and hold it together?  I have often thought, “I just can’t seem to hold things together.”  Yet in this passage I am comforted that is not my job!  I am also challenged to trust that in Christ alone, all things hold together.

In verse 18, Jesus is also unique over the church.  “He is head of the body, the church”, which means He directs it.  Just as my brain must send a signal to my finger to make it move, the church is directed by the leadership of Christ.  Christ is head because He is the beginning, He existed before the church and thus as its creator and redeemer, He leads.  His is also the firstborn from among the dead.  Again, this does not mean He was the first to rise from the dead, but has a special position as the first to rise and remain alive, guaranteeing every promise made to believers about the resurrection.

 Jesus’ unique role as deity, as over creation and the church all lead to God’s purpose in Christ: unique preeminence.  I looked up the meaning of both preeminence and supremacy, and preeminence means superior in every way; supremacy the highest station of power.  In the verses we looked at in this study, Jesus Christ is described as highly exalted, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  It is a position of complete authority.  As we consider this authority, we need to look closely at our own lives.  Does Jesus have authority over every area of your life?  Does He have authority over your finances, your relationships, how you use your time, what goes on in your thought life, your prayer life, or in your service to Him?  Where do you need to allow Jesus to be first in any of these areas? 

Second, let’s consider how Jesus is unique in His work.  Paul begins to hit on this in verse 19 as he describes Jesus’ relationship to the Father.  “In him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of the cross.”  The Gnostics used the word “fullness” to describe the totality of the thousands of emanations or “lesser gods”, of which Jesus was mused to be one on the bottom rung of a ladder that could be climbed to finally reach God.  Paul uses the same word to say that Jesus was the fullness.  All of God’s divine power and attributes rest in Christ and “live” there for eternity.  In this fullness God took pleasure in reconciling to Himself all things.  In Colossians it specifically notes “whether on earth or in heaven.”  It says nothing of things “under the earth.”  All of creation, all of heaven, all believers will be reconciled to God, but things under the earth will merely be in subjection to Christ.  They will bow, but not be reconciled.  Hell is a reality we must not forget.  That is why Paul urges us elsewhere to be ministers of reconciliation, taking the message of reconciliation to others as Christ’s ambassadors.

Jesus’ unique work is also displayed in relation to the cross.  Verse 20 “Making peace by the blood of his cross.”  This was God’s method of reconciling men to Himself.  God’s holy, just wrath against sin could only be turned from men by the sacrifice of His perfect Son on behalf of sinners.  From our first section we see that Jesus alone is uniquely qualified to be a substitute for man’s sin.  In Jesus’ death, peace has been made between God and man.  There is no other way of reconciliation given to men but by the cross.  Trusting in Jesus’ death to pay the penalty for sin is the only way of salvation.

Finally, Jesus’ unique work is displayed in relation to believers.  (verses 21-23) In verse 21 we read we once were alienated from God.  This word refers to a persistent and permanent condition.  Alienation expressed itself in a mind that was hostile to Him and engaged in evil deeds.  Yet now “he has reconciled us”.  Did you notice it says he reconciled us?  We could not do anything to reconcile ourselves to God.  Any religion that promotes works as a means of salvation is a dead end and does not lead to God.  Only in Christ has God offered the means of reconciliation.  He does so in order that one day he will “present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. “

 Verse 23 shows evidence of reconciliation, not a condition to receive it.  This word “if” could perhaps be better taken as “since.”  Those whom God has reconciled will “continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel you have heard.”  We don’t have to work to hold on to our salvation which is secure in Christ, but we can examine our lives for evidence of that salvation.   If evidence is lacking, we need only go back to look at the person of Christ and believe He is who He says He is.  When we receive salvation, we begin to build our lives on the foundation of who He is and the work He has done on our behalf.

Paul finishes with the proclamation of the gospel, “of which I, Paul, became a minister.”  Paul relished the privilege he had to take Christ to others that they, too, might know His unique person and work.  Has this passage renewed your desire to make Christ known to others, to see Him for who He truly is?  What will you do to share Christ with a world that is alienated from Him, as you once were?

I began with the pluralism that is challenging the modern church.  Let’s go back about a hundred years or so to 1893, when Chicago hosted the famous World’s Columbian Exposition.  This took place about 20 years after the great Chicago fire of 1873, and many were curious to see how the city had emerged.  Twenty-one million people came to visit the exhibits.  One of the features of the Exposition was the “World Parliament of Religions,” in which representatives of the world’s religions met to share their best points and perhaps come up with a new world religion.  D.L. Moody saw this event as a great opportunity for evangelism.  Though some of his friends wanted him to attack this outright, he refused.  Instead he said, “I am going to make Jesus Christ so attractive that men will turn to him.”  His strategy resulted in one of the most successful evangelistic campaigns of his lifetime, and thousands came to Christ.

“What’s so special about Jesus?”  If we can apply the lessons of Colossians 1:15-23 to our lives and share them with others, we will be able to meet the challenges of syncretism and pluralism.  Moody saw this kind of a challenge as an opportunity.  Do you?

The Supremacy of Christ

Colossians 1:15-23

1.Read verses 15-23.  What fills Paul’s mind in this passage?

2. How did Paul gain this knowledge of Christ?  (See 1 Cor. 2:10-12, 2 Cor. 12:1,7, Gal. 1:11-12, Col. 3:1-2.)

3. God has allowed the revelation of Jesus to be preserved for us through scripture, including the revelation He gave to Paul.  What practical steps can you take to fill your mind with the knowledge of Christ?

15-20: the person of Christ

4. Using the following scriptures as an aid, summarize the meaning of each truth about Jesus.  (Phrases used are according to the ESV.)

a. He is the image of the invisible God: (John 1:1,14; John 14:9, Heb. 1:3a)

b. the firstborn over all creation:

the significance of the firstborn—Ex. 13:2, 11-16

the right of the firstborn—Deut. 21:17

in relation to Christ—Ps. 89:27

in relation to time and creation—John 1:1-3

c. for by him all things were created… all things were created through him and for him…and in him all things hold together. (John 1:3, Heb. 1:2)

d. He is the head of the body, the church: (Eph. 1:22-23, 5:23-24)

e. He is the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead: (Rom. 1:4, 1 Cor. 15:20, Rev. 1:5)

f. that in everything He might be preeminent: (Ps. 2:6, Phil. 2:9-11, 1 Tim. 6:15, Rev. 19:16)

g. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell: (Col. 2:9)

h. through him to reconcile to himself all things: (2 Cor. 5:18-21, Rom. 5:10)

i. all things, whether on earth or in heaven

compare with Eph. 1:10

contrast with Phil. 2:10

things in heaven—see John 14:2

reconciliation of creation—see Rom. 8:19-22

j. making peace by the blood of his cross

5.a. How do these truths about Christ enlarge your understanding of who He is?

b. How should these truths make a difference in the life of a believer?  In the life of a church?

c. Take a few minutes and pray through these verses, praising Jesus for who He is.  If these verses seem like words on a page, ask Him to make them real and understandable to you, to take them from your head to your heart.

19-23: God’s purpose in Christ

6. According to 19-20, what 2 purposes accomplished in Christ gave God pleasure?

How are they related?

7. a. From verses 21-22, describe a Christian’s past, present, and future with Christ.

b. How does this put every believer on level ground before God and one another?

8. Where does alienation from God originate—in one’s behavior or in one’s mind?

9. What evidence will there be of a believer’s reconciliation to God through Christ (23)?

10. How would the truths about Jesus’ person (15-19) and God’s purpose in Him (19-23)  firmly ground the Colossians against false teaching? 

11. What will you do this week to demonstrate Jesus’ supremacy over your life?

The Sufficiency of the Gospel: Colossians 1:1-14

In our overview of Colossians, we examined how the Colossian church and the church today share a similar problem: the tendency  to introduce into the church other philosophies and religious ideas as level with and part of the Christian faith.  In this first passage of the book, we can see that Paul is laying a foundation to defend ourselves from unbiblical teaching and ideas.  As we look at Colossians 1:1-14, let me ask you, are you grounded in the gospel?  Are you convinced of its truths, and growing in application?  Paul begins the letter of Colossians by reminding the church of the truth they had already heard and responded to.   Paul wanted the people to know that they didn’t need a new spiritual experience, or a new teaching, they needed only to grow in the truth they already had.  Through Paul’s greeting, thanksgiving for the church, and prayer, we learn that the gospel has sufficient power to change lives.

There are two points regarding the sufficiency of the gospel:

I.                    Proofs of power 1:1-8

II.                  Prayer for power 1:9-14

Let’s start with the proofs of the power of the gospel to change lives.  From verses 1-8 I’d like to pick out three.

1.       One proof of the power of the gospel is seen in Paul’s life.  Paul had unwavering passion for Christ. 

This week in our study we looked at Paul’s conversion experience.  Before Christ, Paul was a zealous man, but for all the wrong things.  Acts 9 describes him “breathing threats and murder” against believers, and he was an enemy of Christ.  All of that changed the day he met Christ on the road to Damascus.  From the book of Acts and Paul’s letters we see evidence of a man who had become relentless in his pursuit of Christ and the advance of the gospel.

The first few verses of this book reveal some clues to the fuel that fed Paul’s passion.  First, Paul never  got over God’s grace.   In  1:2, Paul writes, “Grace and peace to you from God our Father.  In 4:18 Paul ends with “grace be with you.”  This letter starts and ends with grace, as many of his letters do!  Paul knew who he had been without Christ, knew that God had saved him by grace, not by works (though he had been zealous for God), and he never ceased to be amazed by God’s grace to him.  Second, from verse 1, we can see that Paul was engaged in the work of the gospel.  He was not saved and then caught up in other pursuits.  He was an apostle for Christ and lived for the gospel!  Paul was also in God’s will for his service.  He was an “apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.”  This was what God had appointed him to do—carry the message of grace as an apostle to the Gentiles.  Finally, Paul’s passion was fueled by his willingness to count the cost.  He submitted to whatever circumstances in which the work of the gospel would place him.  We know he wrote this letter from prison, joyfully, passionately concerned about a church he’d never visited.  Difficult circumstances didn’t deter Paul from his passion for the gospel, but seemed to strengthen it as he meditated on, depended on, and trusted on God through them.  It reminds me of how we are strengthened by weight-lifting.  Paul used his trials as “weights” to strengthen his dependence on God.

2.       A second proof of the power of the gospel is unity.

In verses 1-2 Paul mentions “Timothy our brother” and the “saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae.”  God is referred to as “our Father.”  You get the sense that this was a family letter!  Consider also the workers mentioned in these first 8 verses.  Paul was a Jew, Timothy had a Jewish mother and a Greek father.  Epaphras is a shortened form of the name Epaphroditus, taken from Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love.  This would indicate that Epaphras had either a Greek or at least pagan background.  These fellow servants of the gospel would otherwise have nothing to do with each other.  However, the gospel unites people of every background, culture, economic status…this is what Paul was referring to later when he wrote “Here there is not Greek or Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.” (3:11)

3.       A third proof of the power of the gospel to change lives is its universal appeal.

The gospel is a gift that is fitted to all people, at all times, in all places.  The fact that the gospel was bearing fruit in the lives of the Colossians as well as in “the whole world” (verse 6) indicated this was a universal message.  It is the only seed that can be planted anywhere in the world and bear fruit.  False teaching may take root for a time in a particular culture, place, or era, but the gospel bears lasting fruit wherever it is taken.  What kind of fruit does the gospel produce?  From verse 4-5, it is faith, love, and hope.  

As we look at some proofs of the gospel from these verses, take a look at your own life.  Is there evidence that the power of the gospel has changed your life?  How has a passion for Christ changed the course of your life?  How has the gospel united you with brothers and sisters with whom you may not have otherwise had anything in common?  How have you grown in faith in Christ, love for others, and hope for God’s promises to be fulfilled in Jesus’ coming?  If you see proof of these things, you have responded to the gospel, and that is all the salvation you will ever need. 

II.                  Prayer for power (9-14)

Let’s turn our attention now to Paul’s powerful prayer for the Colossian church.  If we have the power of the gospel giving evidence to God’s work in our lives, how do we appropriate this power as we continue to grow and walk in Him through our daily lives?  This question reminds me of a story of a missionary who was given a car that would only start when it was pushed.  He devised a plan where each day he would go to a nearby school, ask that a few of the children be dismissed from class, and have them help him push the car down a hill so it could start.  Then he would use the car for his work, letting it idle whenever he had to leave it and turning it off when he was done for the day.  This is how he used the car until a few years later, another missionary was assigned to his post.  The veteran missionary proudly explained his clever plan for starting his car to the new recruit.  Then the new missionary went to the car, popped the hood, and fiddled with a loose wire, got into the driver’s seat, turned the ignition, and the car started.  Think of all the trouble that could have been saved for both himself and others if only the first missionary knew how to tap into the power the car had available to start!

We, too, need to learn how to apply the power of the gospel to our lives.  This comes through prayer.  Paul prayed for 2 things for the Colossian church.  First, he prayed for knowledge of God’s will.  This goes beyond intellect to a knowledge given by the Holy Spirit as we study and apply scripture to our lives.  Paul prays specifically that this knowledge would be “in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.”  Wisdom is a major theme in Colossians, because the false teachers were spreading an early form of “Gnosticism,” which gets its root from the word “gnosis” for knowledge.  They taught that there was a secret knowledge available to a select group of people.  Paul, however, prayed for epignosis, a kind of “super knowledge” of God’s divine plan and purpose through history.  (Henry Ironside describes this as God’s redemptive plan revealed throughout the scriptures, of which I am a part just as a drop of water is a part of the ocean.   It does not render us insignificant in any way, just a part of something that is so vast we can hardly begin to comprehend it.  No wonder we are in need of super knowledge!!)

The second thing Paul prays for is power (verse 11).  He asks that they may be strengthened with “all power, according to his glorious might.”  It is God’s divine power Paul is asking for, the same power that raised Christ from the dead.  This is the power of God that is at work in me, making me victorious through temptations and trials and even bringing great joy.  What a prayer to be praying for ourselves and other believers!  What difference will it make in your life and the lives of others if you pray and meditate on the fact that God’s knowledge and power is at your disposal to enable you and others through the hard things in life?

Paul finishes his prayer with thanksgiving in verses 13-14.  Notice the past tense in each of these verbs.  The things he thanks God for are eternally settled: delivered, transferred, we have redemption and forgiveness of sins.  Paul prayed with certainty knowing God had already accomplished salvation for His people and would see it through to the end.  The power of the gospel does not depend on our self-effort, but on God’s power already at work to accomplish His purpose and plan for our lives and the lives of every believer.

These final words state the gospel.  For those who have received it, God has delivered, or rescued, us from the darkness of the domain of sin, which blinded us to the knowledge of God and the way our sin had separated us from a relationship with Him.  When we trusted in salvation provided by Jesus’ death for that sin on the cross (our redemption payment), God transferred us to the kingdom of His Son, and we experienced God’s forgiveness.  These are settled facts for the believer.  I hope they are settled facts for you, and that you can see proof of its work in your life, as well as pray with certainty that God will finish the work He has begun in you.

The truth of the gospel is amazing!  We don’t need another, different spiritual experience, more rules, or a new teaching.  All we need has already been provided by God in Christ.  We need only learn to use what we have, through prayer and the power of God.  If we do these things, we will surely “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him.”