MPC, 28th September 2003.Colossians 1:1-14 - "The Real Thing"
Matt Rowson
MPC, 28th September 2003.
A friend of mine used to work for a bank in Sydney quite a number of years ago, and he was telling me once that they had a department of people who would check the money, check the notes, to make sure they weren’t counterfeits. And he said the way they trained in order to tell a fake was not what you’d perhaps expect. You see, I would have expected that they would train them by getting them to study all the various kind of counterfeit notes that were around. Show them all the tricks they use to make fakes. I would have thought to train someone to pick a fake you would get them to study lots of fake notes. But that’s not how they do it. Instead, they study the real thing – the genuine notes, and they get to know every intricate detail with amazing precision. Because the better they knew the real thing, the easier it was to pick a fake.
We’re looking at a letter Paul wrote to the Colossians over the coming weeks, and that’s exactly what Paul is going to do. He’s going to show the Colossians what the real gospel looks like, and what a real Christian looks like.
So what about you. When it comes to the gospel, can you pick a fake? Can you tell the difference between a fake, and the real thing?
Some of you may even be wondering whether or not you really are a real Christian?
Maybe you have had, or maybe you will have someone tell you that you don’t have the real gospel – the complete gospel or the full gospel as some have put it to me.
Maybe you will be told that you’re not displaying the signs or the evidence that a real Christian should display, and maybe you will wonder if you really are a Christian or whether there are secrets to the Christian life that you are missing out on and need to discover.
These are the kind of questions and issues that Paul answers in his letter to the Colossians.
From reading through the letter itself we can gather that the Colossians are under threat from false teachers who were trying to add to the gospel they had received. They are trying to tell the Colossians that what they have, the gospel they have heard, the life they are living – are all lacking something But Paul wants them to know that anything that ADDS to the gospel is a fake.
Paul has written to the Colossians to assure them of what genuine Christianity is and how to continue on as Christians. I think the key verse of the letter; the verse that the rest of the book hangs on is 2:6
“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him”
That’s Paul’s concern for the Colossians.
He wants them to know that Jesus is all you need. If the Colossians were worried that they had missed out on all it means to be a Christian, Paul reassures them that the gospel they have heard and believed is the real one – they are real Christians.
In the passage we are looking at this morning, Paul gives us a pattern you might say, of the genuine Christian life and what it is to continue as a Christian.
Paul begins his letter as he does most of his letters by thanking God, and what he thanks God for is the evidence that the Colossians he’s writing to are in fact real Christians, that they are the genuine article.
Have a look at what these marks of a true Christian are… (1:3-4)
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints.
Paul thanks God for their faith and their love.
It’s quite simple. They are trusting in Jesus as the one who can save them and the one who they need to submit to as their King. And they are displaying a love for God’s people. In particular he’s probably referring to the Jewish Christians when he says “saints” here. And this love they have is not just an ordinary love, but a love that comes from God. In verse 8 Paul describes it as their love in the Spirit. I don’t think this is anything weird or mystical, but simply a love that would not be possible without the work of God’s Spirit in their lives. A genuine mark of a genuine Christian.
If you’re looking for the marks of a genuine Christian then this is a great summary. Someone who’s trust is in Jesus and who has a love for God’s people.
It’s the evidence that these Colossians have received Jesus as Lord. They might seem like quite ordinary, and unspectacular “signs” of being a Christian, but these are the signs that Paul obviously sees as important - the mark of a true Christian.
We need to remember that these things go hand in hand. Paul’s not saying that just because someone is loving, then it means they’re a genuine Christian. There’s plenty of loving Muslims and loving Atheists.
I think Paul clarifies it a bit for us when he describes where this faith and love come from. He explains that it is the hope of heaven through the message of the gospel that produces this faith and love. (v5)
Col 1:5 the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel.
You see, Christianity is not so much about this life, but the life to come.
A Christianity that is just about what God can do for you in this life, as if this life is all that counts, is not the gospel Paul is speaking about. The gospel that came to the Colossians was in terms of the hope of heaven. Sometimes Christianity can be so “now” focused that it seems that this life is all there is, so we have to make the most of it.
But knowing the end, having the hope of eternal life will shape our lives now. And it will produce a life of trust in Jesus, day-by-day, through good and bad, and it will be seen in our love for one another.
Paul wants these Christians in Colossae to know that they are true Christians and they will stand with Christ on the last day. They have received Jesus as Lord and they are displaying the love and faith that come from the hope of heaven held out in the gospel.
The Colossians are real Christian’s because they have believed in the real gospel. And Paul assures them that they’re not alone. He says in verse 6…
All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth.
The gospel they have heard and received is the same gospel that has been preached around the world and people are putting their trust in Jesus through this gospel just as they have done.
And this gospel of God’s grace has been preached, heard and understood in all its truth. There is nothing that was left out. Nothing that the Colossians (or us) need to search for - their are no missing bits.
Paul says later in chapter 1, in verse 25 that God has made him the servant of the church to present to them the word of God in its fullness.
It wasn’t actually Paul who first preached the gospel to the Colossians. In fact Paul has never met them in person. In verse 7 we learn that it was Paul’s co-worker Epaphras who taught the Colossians the gospel.
Maybe the Colossians are unsure as to whether or not they got the full story from this guy called Epaphras, did they get the whole picture. Perhaps these false teachers who have come have put seeds of doubt in their mind as to whether they actually heard and believed the real gospel.
Was it like the game “Chinese Whispers” where a sentence is passed down between a number of people. Did the message get muddled up? Where bits left out?
Paul assures them that the gospel they received from Epaphras IS the genuine one – it wasn’t a fake, and apart from those words in the gospel, there is nothing else they need to know to make them complete as a Christian – no extra experiences they need to have. No special, secret wisdom to uncover, they have it all in the gospel.
You see the gospel is words. The gospel isn’t a relationship with God based on a feeling, or an experience, it’s based on these words of God – it’s something we hear or read, it’s something we are taught and that we learn, just as the Colossians learnt it from Epaphras who taught it to them, and they understood it.
Notice how many times Paul uses those words in verses 5-7.
Verse 5 you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel
Verse 6 you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth.
Verse 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant
There’s a lot of Christianity these days that almost despises words – that puts little value on the fact that God’s gospel is given to us in the words of the Bible and those words must be heard, taught and understood. There seems to be a push for things more exciting… “words are dull, hearing words are dull, being taught is dull, putting your mind to understanding those words is hard work and it’s dull.”
But that’s not what Paul would say. He rejoices that the Colossians have heard, been taught and understood the gospel, and it’s the same words that are spreading all over the world in Paul’s day and that is bearing fruit, that is, people everywhere are hearing and understanding and putting their trust in Jesus.
It’s a good reminder for us I think, when we are tempted to put little value on the words of the Bible, little value or time into reading and understanding the Bible. Remember, that is how God has chosen to make himself known. Through the testimony of the Prophets in the Old Testament that find their fulfillment in Jesus, and the Apostles in the New Testament who walked and talked with Jesus, and whose testimonies were written down so that we too might put our trust in Jesus.
Our relationship with Jesus is based on the words of the gospel. And this gospel that the Colossians heard and that we have heard is the true gospel. There are no secrets that we have missed out on.
Well secondly, Paul goes on to tell them what he is praying for them. It is because Paul has heard that they have received Jesus as Lord, that he prays that they would continue to live in him.
As we look at what Paul prays for these Christians he has never even met, we can see what is important for them as they go on in the Christian life. Paul’s not going to mention trivial and insignificant things here. No… he’s going to show us what’s important, what the ongoing life looks like for someone who has received Jesus Christ as Lord.
Have a look at verse 9 with me to see what he prays for...
1:9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
He prays that they would grow in their knowledge of God’s will. By the knowledge of God’s will, Paul isn’t talking about what each of them should choose as a career, or whether they should buy the Toyota or the Holden for their next car. He is talking about knowing God and his ways and his purposes. And the way we can know him and his will is in his Word.
But this knowledge is not an end in itself. It’s not to puff us up – it’s not just head stuff. The goal of this knowledge is practical - it leads to a life pleasing to God.
1:10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way:
Just say you saw me up here and my throat was getting croaky, so you thought “I’ll get him a cup of coffee”
That’s very kind of you. That’s a very loving and generous thought. You’ve tried to please me. And you bring over the coffee and I look at it and say “Well, I’m sorry, have you got any milk because I can’t drink it black.”
You say “Oh I didn’t know you liked it white”
So you go away and come back and I start drinking it and I say “Oh it hasn’t got any sugar in it – I can’t drink it without sugar”
And you say “I didn’t know you liked sugar”.
You tried to please me – but you failed. Why?
Because of lack of knowledge.
You didn’t know me
You didn’t know what pleases me.
Lots of people want to please God and try to please God but they fail because they don’t know what pleases him. They don’t know his will and his purposes.
Paul goes on to describe what it means to be pleasing to the Lord. In his prayer he gives us four characteristics of a life pleasing to God.
Firstly, we will be bearing fruit in every good work. (verse 10)
We are not saved by works, we are saved by grace, and we don’t stay in God’s good books by works, but as God’s people, the fruit of our new life in Christ will be evident by our good works.
Secondly, we will be growing in the knowledge of God (Verse 10). There’s that knowledge theme again. It’s a cycle – Paul says that it is through our knowledge of God’s will that leads to us pleasing God, and part of pleasing God is to continue growing in the knowledge of God. Our minds are not left at the door when we become a Christian!
Thirdly Paul gives us a picture of a powerful Christian in verse 11. What does a powerful Christian look like – what would they be like?
A great evangelist with 1000’s of converts? An inspiring preacher? A miracle worker?
Is that what a powerful Christian is?
Paul’s description of a powerful Christian is quite different…
verse 11. being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience,
– A powerful Christian is one who has great endurance and patience. Not giving up during the trials and distractions of life but hanging on to the hope of eternal life. That’s why Paul is writing: Just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him (2:6-7). Paul wants the Colossians not to give up, or give in to fine sounding arguments that take them away from Christ, but to continue as they began. With Jesus as Lord.
It sounds a bit dull compared to what many today would see as being a powerful Christian.
Back when I was at uni, I was on the train with a uni friend one day. He wasn’t a Christian but we got talking about Jesus and the gospel, and he said he wasn’t interested in being a Christian unless it meant he had supernatural powers.
He thought what’s the good of being a Christian and having a close relationship with God, the creator of the universe - if you can’t have some extra power that other people don’t have. Surely that wouldn’t be too much to ask God he thought.
Now the kind of power he was talking about was the kind of stuff out of the movies. He said he wanted to be able to have supernatural powers to move objects without touching them, and to look into the future and to control the mind of others with some telepathic energy.
That was what he thought having God’s power in you would look like.
But in this passage we see that God’s power in us will be evident in our perseverance as a Christian.
The Christian life is a marathon, and what matters is being there at the end.
A bit like Olympic ice skater Steven Bradbury showed us at the last Winter Olympics – what counts is making it to the end without falling over!
Paul wrote this letter while in prison – in chains, he mentions that at the end of the book. Many would say he was defeated and powerless. But he was persevering – his hope was in the life to come, and his goal was to keep persevering himself, and to encourage others to keep persevering also.
Finally, the mark of a life that pleases God is a life of thankfulness
Verse 12
And joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.
Thanks for what God has done for us in Christ, if we have received him as our Lord – he has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints. That is, we have eternal life with him and will enjoy all the blessings of that eternal life along with God’s people. Knowing you’re going to receive an inheritance is something to get excited about isn’t it – something to really look forward to, especially when the inheritance is from God!
And this is the case because, as Verse 13 & 14 says we have been rescued from the Kingdom of darkness and brought into the Kingdom of the Son. Like those movies where the hero breaks into the villains stronghold, and rescues the prisoners, taking them back to safety and freedom, so Jesus has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness, from the power of sin and death, and has brought us into his kingdom that will last forever - We have been redeemed and forgiven by God. It’s because of that that our lives should be filled with thanks to God
You may remember a story in the news a couple of years back, about a man named Karl Power. Karl is just an ordinary man. But when Manchester United, one of the top English Soccer teams was having their official team photo taken on the sideline just before a quarter-final game, Karl, who was in the crowd, slipped over the fence onto the field, dressed from head to toe in the Manchester United uniform – boots and all, and as the players were lining up for the photo, Karl casually walked up and stood with the players. The camera man took the official team photo with Karl in it. It was only after the photo was taken that the players realized that this guy standing with them wasn’t in their team at all. He was an imposter!
Later that year, Karl popped up again. This time during the 4th Ashes Test in England. After one of the English batsmen had just been dismissed, and before the next batter had made it onto the field yet, Karl jumped the fence again and walked out of the players tunnel and onto the field as if he was the next batter. He was dressed in all the proper gear, pads, bat, helmet – he looked just like one of the English batters. He even fooled the security men who were supposed to protect the players. They safely escorted him out onto the field thinking he was the real thing. He had everyone fooled again – although England might have had a better chance of winning if they’d let him bat for them.
But Karl Power is not the real thing. He’s not the genuine thing when it comes to being a top English soccer player, or an English Test Batsman. He may have had a lot of people fooled, but he was a fake – he wasn’t genuine.
Paul wants the Colossians and us to know that if we have received Jesus as Lord, then we are the real thing when it comes to being a Christian. And we shouldn’t let anyone tell us that there’s something more we need, or some experience we need to have in order to prove that we are a real Christian.
Paul has shown the Colossians and us what a genuine Christian looks like.
Can you know if you really are a Christian? Yes, you can…
Let me encourage you, that if you have heard and understood the gospel, and have received Jesus as your Lord, if you are trusting in him alone for your salvation, then you can know for certain that you will receive your eternal inheritance from God, you will have eternal life with him and with all God’s people.
And remember that the mark of a genuine Christian is simply a faith in Jesus and a love for God’s people.
What will the ongoing life of a genuine Christian look like?
The ongoing Christian life is continuing in Christ. Growing in our knowledge of God and his will for us as we study his word, so that we might please him in every way. That we might bear fruit in good deeds, that we might grow in our knowledge of him, that we might have great patience and endurance and that we would be thankful.
If that’s the case then you’re not a fake – you’re the real thing.