Colossians 1:3-8

Please join me in turning to Paul's letter to the church at Colossae, the book of your copy of God's Word that we call Colossians.

As we continue together our study last week looking at the first two verses, the salutation, as well as some of the background, the occasion for the writing of this letter.

It's of interesting note, not in any strange supernatural way, but I was listening to that album this morning as I was kind of doing my last note preparation and praying for the preaching this morning.

Evan Thomas way. Very good stuff.

And we continue Colossians chapter 3 and I'll read to you through verse 8.

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.

Of this you have heard before in the word of truth, the gospel, which has come to you as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing as it also does among you.

Since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant.

He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and is to make known to us your love in the spirit.

As we turn our minds and our hearts toward God's holy writ, let me remind you that this is God's word to us.

It was written for his glory and our good.

We would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and obey its commands.

Now, as Paul begins to write this letter, we know that he's writing it to correct some type of heresy that was going on.

And we talked at length about that last week, not knowing exactly what the heresy was,

but being able to see some elements of some common heresy that was going on in the day.

Paul wastes no time at all getting to the very meat of his letter to the Colossian believers.

And he begins, as he rightly should, with the gospel.

Notice the last half of verse 5.

The word of the truth.

The gospel.

This is the good news of Jesus Christ.

The very foundation from which all other truth is built.

And so we should rightly understand the gospel as well as the outcomes of said good news.

A wonderful historical summary of the gospel is found in 1 Corinthians 15 verses 1 through 4.

1 Corinthians 15:1–4

Where Paul says,

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preach to you,

which you received and which you stand, and by which you are being saved,

if you hold fast to the word I preach to you, unless you believed in vain or didn't believe at all.

Verse 3,

For I have delivered to you as of first importance what I also received,

that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures.

That He was buried.

That He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.

Which Paul repeats twice, which is to say that God had preordained and planned this thing to come to pass.

That Jesus, the one they called the Christ, was in fact God's Son.

And therefore, the work that was accomplished has veracity.

It has meaning.

It actually took its full effect in the world.

The good news of Jesus Christ is that He came and died for the complete forgiveness of sins.

And then He rose from the dead so that those who believe in Him will live forever.

We cannot have good news without bad.

And the bad news is that all of humanity has inherited the guilt of Adam.

And we are guilty ourselves of living in direct opposition to the ways of God.

Do not take your sin lightly as little and frivolous.

Everything that you have done that has transgressed the law of God has said to Him,

I hate you.

You are my enemy.

I know what's best for me.

I am king.

It is of great offense to a holy God.

God cannot tolerate your sin.

And therefore, you are separated from Him.

And you are cast away from Him forever if you die without the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ came to save sinners of whom I am foremost.

And He rose from the dead that we may have believed in Him and have life in Him.

The word gospel in Greek, euangelion, from which we get the word evangelize.

It's really just a technical term in Greek for good news.

It was originally used as a term in relationship to battles.

In some records of the past, there would be occasions when a certain city would fight against another city.

It was very common in Greece for the country to be divided up into these city-states.

And each city-state would maintain its own army.

And occasionally they would go to battle.

There would be these great battles.

And everyone in the city would wait to hear the news of what had happened on the battlefield.

The armies would ride out and they would go to battle.

And everyone in the city would wait with this eager anticipation to find out who it was they were going to pay homage to at the end of this battle.

No Twitter. No Instagram. There was no way for this to be updated except by messengers.

And men would be sent back to the city.

Runners would be sent back to the city to declare what had happened.

This was this euangelion, the proclaimers of good news.

This person would come running from the battlefield declaring,

We have won.

This is that word. Gospel.

That we're talking about.

The good news. The good news of victory over our enemy.

The news of victory over sin.

This is the reference Paul makes when he speaks of the gospel preached in Romans 10.15.

When he quotes from Isaiah 52.7, he says,

How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news.

He's saying those runners who come and declare victory over sin.

And to fully appreciate that citation from Romans 10.15, let me read to you Isaiah 52.7.

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news.

Who publishes peace.

Who brings good news of happiness.

Who publishes salvation.

Who says to Zion,

Your God reigns.

This is the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And this is the way in which Paul begins his letter to the Colossian believers.

So let's notice together five things about the gospel.

Number one.

The gospel gives reason for thanksgiving.

Verse 3.

Paul writes,

We assume that this is Paul and Timothy as the salutation notes for us.

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you.

We give proper thanksgiving.

We give thanks to the proper source of who you are in Christ.

If my wife, Samantha, she hates it when I call her that, Sam, but for you guests, I want you to know,

my wife's name is Samantha, gave me a present for my birthday.

It wouldn't be proper for me to thank one of my sons for the gift.

Wouldn't be proper, would it?

Caden, thank you so much for this wonderful gift.

If Sam gave me the gift, it's proper for me to thank Sam for the gift.

However, when one of my sons gives me a gift for my birthday, it's proper, after thanking them, to thank my wife,

who is the real source of said gift.

The one who did all the hard work to actually load up boys and take them to a store and keep them from destroying things.

It's proper for us to ascribe thanksgiving to the proper source, which is what Paul does here.

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, when we pray for you.

God was and is the source of the church.

He was and is the source of the church.

This is further driven in the last half of verse 6 of Colossians 1.

Since the day you heard it, being the gospel, and understood the grace of God in truth.

This gift given to us by God.

The grace of God in truth.

The gospel of Jesus Christ.

Paul writes in Ephesians 2, verses 8 and 9,

Ephesians 2:8

For by grace you have been saved through faith.

And this is not your own doing.

It is the gift of God.

Not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

And verse 9 is so very important for us to understand what Paul is trying to explain in verse 8.

For by grace you have been saved through faith.

And this is not your own doing.

Many people want to say that Paul is referring to the grace given there.

I would argue that he's referring to the faith.

Because he goes on to say it's not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

It is fully of God.

Our salvation is monergistic.

God himself acts upon us.

You can rearrange these things to say that we're saved by grace through the gift of God,

which is faith, and not as a result of our works.

It's highly debated in churches these days.

By men that I think are worth listening to.

But let me say to you,

that the changing of our hearts happens before we place faith in Jesus Christ.

That regeneration precedes faith in Christ.

That God works in us a new heart so that we can believe.

And then we are justified by that faith.

All of this being a work of grace in our lives.

Regeneration, faith, justification, sanctification, glorification.

Regeneration precedes faith.

Happens in a moment.

I don't really want to parse it all out.

It doesn't really matter.

Right?

But we are incapable.

We cannot do good things.

We cannot be righteous.

And faith would certainly be included in that category unless we are changed.

So it's fully of God.

Regeneration precedes faith.

We must give Him much praise for the salvation of the Colossian church and for our own.

All of the glory.

All of the honor is ascribed to Him.

It all belongs to Him and the praise of His name.

So that's number one.

The Gospel gives reason for thanksgiving.

To the proper place.

To God the Father.

Secondly, the Gospel is believed by faith.

First part of verse 4.

Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus.

And what Paul is talking about here is a saving faith.

Not just a mental assent to something.

Not just believing and saying with your mind,

Yeah, that makes sense.

Jesus is the Son of God and came and died for our sins.

But a saving faith.

A faith that is preceded by regeneration.

A faith that has as its object the person and work of Jesus Christ.

There are many people of faith these days.

Saving faith is faith that has as its object the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Charles Spurgeon tells a story about two men in a boat who are being swept towards a waterfall

and their certain death.

And at the same time, one is thrown a rope from shore by a group of men working to save him.

And the other sees a log floating by.

And one jumps onto the log.

The other takes hold of the rope.

And the point of the story is that the object must be the correct object in order to save us.

The man jumping onto the log did himself no service.

He just got really wet before he went over the waterfall.

The man who held the rope was saved because the object was right and it was proper.

Charles Spurgeon again, and I'm going to throw a little addition to this quote in for you for free

because it's very good.

He said,

So an encouragement to you to read Puritans, the old dead guys.

As of them, he says, the old writers tell you, right?

So the Puritans say that faith is made up of three things.

First, knowledge.

Then, assent.

And then what they call affiance or the laying hold of the knowledge to which we give assent

and making it our own by trusting in it.

So first, we must know something.

The gospel must be preached to us.

We must understand the state of our sin, separation from God, the need of a Savior.

We must understand that Jesus Christ is that Savior.

We must have some knowledge of double imputation.

That He takes away our sin and that He gives to us His righteousness.

That that is what is required before God.

We must have some knowledge of that.

And then we must have some belief that it's true.

But more than that, we must trust in it.

We must take it up into ourselves.

We must say, this is a truth that belongs to me.

That I am saved by this great truth.

So knowledge and belief and trust.

How do you know if you have a saving faith?

This is a question that we must ask as American Christians, particularly those who live and likely grew up in the Southeast.

Because we live in a place where so many, and I will use my quote unquote fingers, Christian leaders peddle cheap grace.

They would have you many places this morning.

And this is tragic and saddening.

Many places this morning, they would say to somebody, if you doubt that you were a Christian,

let me draw your mind back to the day in which you made a decision.

The day in which you walked an aisle.

Remember the card you filled out.

Flip to the front of your copy of God's Word.

Remember where you wrote down the date.

Some activity on your part that saved you from the wrath to come.

And certainly, many people have been saved by such activity.

There was, I shouldn't say by activity.

They were saved in the midst of such activity.

That God worked in that and used it to save them.

But it is not the surety of your salvation.

You've heard me say before, the fact that you have a birth date and you know the date

does not prove to you that you're alive.

You know that you're alive because you experience life.

You know that you're alive and breathing and that you're working out activity.

And the same is true of the Christian.

Our work must reflect the fact that we are saved.

Our work does not earn us salvation.

We're not found righteous because of the things that we do,

but we will live in righteousness because of who we are.

It's a great monergistic work of God on our behalf.

Now our sanctification, the continuing perfection of us being synergistic,

we have a part to play in it.

An activity to be carried out.

The great marker of Christian maturity is obedience.

I know people who have been Christians for decades

who don't show the maturity that some young believers do

because those young believers are obedient with what they know.

So many of us are so top heavy.

We know so much and do so little with it.

The great marker of Christian maturity is obedience.

However, obedience is the marker of any truly regenerative individual's life.

And there are some who call this lordship theology,

although those who believe this to be true would never call it that,

and they condemn it as heresy.

They think it is a works-based theology.

And beloved, hear me.

I never want to cast into doubt your salvation unless it's necessary that I do so.

I don't want you to come in here every Sunday and wonder leaving.

Am I truly saved?

Is my life progressing in holiness the way it ought to be?

I just don't know.

I want you to have surety.

I want you to hold tight to it.

I want you to join with me even though I still sin,

to be able to stand up under the condemnation,

knowing that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ.

I want you to experience the seal of the Spirit on your life,

where you can with confidence go before God,

knowing that you are clothed in Christ's righteousness.

But I also do not want you to be led astray.

I tend to be a half-glass-empty kind of guy,

and I really don't like that about myself,

and I try not to be.

I don't want to believe what I'm about to say,

but I think that most of the people sitting in churches in the southeast this morning

think they're Christians,

and they are not.

I think that they are tares,

and they're going to be weeded out and thrown into the fire one day

because of this cheap grace idea

that simply there's some assent given,

some word spoken,

and now you're a Christian.

Rather than seeing that our lives must be progressing in holiness

to see that we're saved.

Test yourself.

Examine to make sure you're in the faith.

1 John 5, 1-3.

John says,

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God,

and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of Him.

Okay, so conveniently, many people stop there.

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.

But let me tell you that the belief is not simply some mental cognition to the facts,

but rather a belief that changes who you are.

It's that kind of belief.

It's a trusted belief.

It's a thing that so defines who you are that you live differently.

The last half of that verse 1 says,

And everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of Him.

Verse 2,

By this we know that we love the children of God,

when we love God and obey His commandments.

For this is the love of God,

that we keep His commandments,

and His commandments are not burdensome.

This is the proof of what we have said has happened in our lives,

that we begin to live as we should.

Not perfectly.

Don't hear me saying that.

I still am in need of grace.

Praise God,

I can trust in the completed work of Jesus Christ on my behalf.

W.E. Vine, in his book,

The Expositional Dictionary of New Testament Words,

wrote,

There is no evidence in your life

that you have a saving faith.

Let me plead with you this morning to repent and believe.

Put down your pride.

I do not care how long you've said you're a Christian

and you're suddenly realizing that you're not.

Repent and believe.

Your eternal soul is at stake here.

Do not let the cheap grace peddlers lead you astray.

The Gospel comes by faith,

by saving faith.

Thirdly,

we see this in the first part of verse 5,

the Gospel gives hope

because of the promise of heaven.

The text reads,

Because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.

The hope of heaven causes us to live for the eternal

and not to be caught up in the trivial nature of the temporal.

Just in case you're trying to write that down,

I'll say it one more time.

The hope of heaven causes us to live for the eternal

and to not be caught up in the trivial nature of the temporal.

It fuels the daily dying that is necessary to follow our risen Lord.

Remember Mark chapter 8,

Mark 8 · chapter mention

as we just finished studying through Mark.

If we want to be a disciple of Jesus Christ,

we're going to have to take up our cross and follow Him.

We're going to have to die to the things that we want,

our self-direction,

in order to follow Him.

And the hope of heaven is the great charge we need for that.

That we know that one day we will eternally live with Him forever.

We're living for the eternal, not for the temporal.

There's a great example of that in Hebrews chapter 11.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

I invite you to turn there with me to verse 24.

Hebrews 11 verse 24.

Hebrews 11:24

Okay, I'm going to rock.

You'll get there.

Ready?

Verse 24.

By faith, Moses, when he was grown up,

refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.

You remember the story Moses put into a basket,

found by Pharaoh's daughter,

adopted as a son.

Verse 25.

Choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God

than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

The writer of Hebrews giving his commentary

on what's going on with Moses.

Instead, going and being part of the Jewish people

rather than living in the highest place of luxury,

having everything that his flesh could have possibly desired.

The commentary of the writer of Hebrews says

the fleeting pleasures of sin.

Certainly pleasurable, but passing.

Verse 26.

He considered, and I love this,

he considered the reproach of Christ.

The reproach of Christ.

Not that he knew who Jesus was,

but this writer of Hebrews sees that

all of the suffering of all God's people

was part of the world's condemnation

and rejection of the Savior.

He considered the reproach of Christ

greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt,

for he was looking to the reward.

The eternal reward.

Not to the temporal, but to the eternal.

Verse 27.

By faith he left Egypt,

not being afraid of the anger of the king,

for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.

Rather than worshiping the king of Egypt,

Pharaoh, he worshiped God.

God.

Jim Elliot is cited in Elizabeth Elliot's

shadow of the Almighty as saying,

he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep

to gain what he cannot lose.

Beloved, so many of us

who claim the name of Christ

live for the temporal.

We get so wrapped up into the day-to-day

fleeting pleasure of sin.

The Gospel gives us hope

because of the promise of heaven.

It changes the way in which we live.

Fourthly, last part of verse 4,

the Gospel produces love.

The Gospel produces love.

The text reads,

the love that you have for all the saints

is one of the things that Paul is thanking God for.

Why is he thanking God for it?

Because it's a supernatural love.

Notice verse 8.

That Epaphras has made known to us

your love in the Spirit.

One of the fruits of the Spirit being love

has been produced in them

because of the work of God

on their behalf.

And we see here in our text today

the triad of Christian virtues.

Faith, hope, and love.

1 Corinthians 13.

So now, faith, hope, and love

abide these three,

but at the greatest of these

is love.

You see that also in 1 Thessalonians 1.3

and 1 Thessalonians 5.8.

The great virtue of Christian love.

Let me connect for you

that Christian love

produces Christian unity.

They're thanking God

for the love that they have

for one another.

This week,

if you're part of a community outreach group,

you studied the beginning

of Philippians 2.

You draw your attention

to verses 2 and 3.

Paul says,

Complete my joy

by being of the same mind,

having the same love,

being in full accord

and of one mind.

Do nothing from selfish ambition

or conceit,

but in humility,

count others

more significant than yourselves.

This is the definition of love.

That you seek the good of others

before your own good.

John 17.

I'll get you to turn there with me.

John 17.

I'll begin reading in verse 20.

This is part of

Jesus' prayer

that has become known

as the High Priestly Prayer.

I want you to note

four verses of it.

John 17,

John 17:20–23

verses 20-23.

And he prays,

I do not ask for these only,

he's talking about the apostles,

but also for those

who will believe in me

through their word.

Now, us.

This is his prayer

for all of us.

Those of us who claim

to follow Christ.

Verse 21,

that they may all be one.

Just as you,

Father,

are in me

and I in you,

they also may be in us.

So that the world may believe

that you have sent me.

The glory that you have given me,

I have given to them.

That they may be one

even as we are one.

I in them

and you in me.

That they may become

perfectly one.

So that the world may know

that you sent me

and love them

even as you loved me.

Notice the repetition

that's going on there.

Verse 21,

that they may be one.

Verse 22,

they may be one.

Verse 23,

that they may become

perfectly one.

Jesus prays that we

will be unified.

Why?

So that the world will know

that Jesus is the Christ

and that we are loved

by God

through Him.

Note again,

the repetition.

Verse 21,

so that the world may believe

that you have sent me.

In verse 23,

so that the world may know

that you sent me

and love them

even as you loved me.

It's meant to be a display

of the way in which

God loves us

by the way we love

one another.

Jesus said in John 13, 35,

by this,

all people will know

that you are my disciples

if you have love

for one another.

This is the way

that the world is supposed

to look at us

and say,

what a peculiar people

set apart for God.

Look at the way

they love each other.

Not by signs

or big fancy buildings

or programs

or kitschy t-shirts

or cool websites.

Neat Facebook posts.

By our love

for one another.

This is the defining

characteristic

of Christians together

and how the world

looks at us

and knows we belong

to God.

John writes

in 1 John 4, 7 and 8,

Beloved,

let us love one another

for love is from God

and whoever loves

has been born of God

and knows God.

Anyone who does not love

does not know God

because God is love.

How do we love one another?

Paul writes in Galatians 6, 2,

bear one another's burdens

and so fulfill

the law of Christ.

He's talking about

this commandment

that Jesus has given

that we should love

one another.

That we bear

one another's burdens.

And beloved,

I will tell you

that in most churches,

including our own,

there are many,

many people

who work

to bear the burdens

of others.

But that number

is far too few.

And those people

are so very burdened

by everybody else's burdens.

That they often flame out

very quick.

They get consumed.

They have to take

massive breaks

in order to be replenished

so that they can get back

and bear burdens

once again.

There are single individuals

bearing the burdens

of many.

But the beautiful picture

is that if we're all

bearing one another's burdens,

the load gets incredibly light.

That we pick up the pieces

of one another

and function as a body together

that way.

That means

that you have

a part to play.

Whether you're part

of this church

or another

and you're just a guest

here today.

That you have a part

to play.

You have a ministry

in the church.

The church growth gurus

say that it's incredibly

important to plug someone in

to give them a job

within the first six months

of them coming

to a church.

Right?

You can't know

somebody's character

in six months.

That's insanity.

But this is what

so many are doing

so that people feel

that they belong

rather than saying to them

you have a ministry.

You have a ministry.

It's to one another.

This means that it's not okay

just to show up

on a Sunday morning.

You can't just walk in

at 1025,

1035,

sit down

and when we're done

get up and walk

right back out.

I know

that sometimes

that's what has to happen

on a Sunday.

I know the amount

of time it takes

to invest

in people

and to get to know people

you have to do the work.

You have to.

You have to find times

and opportunities

to get with

the people of God

so that you can

display

love.

It's of vital importance

in your service

to the church

and I guarantee you

that as you do so

your burdens

will be bore

as well.

You will also be

loved.

It's a work.

It is hard.

It has been so many years

since I ever went

and fellowshiped

with a new group

of people.

I can remember

faintly,

it's a dim light

in my mind

how strange

and awkward it is

to walk into a group

of people

that you don't know.

I know it's hard.

I know it's hard.

Do the work.

Put in the time.

Show up to the things

that we're doing.

We have meetings

that are almost exclusively

for the opportunity

to be able to love

each other

in this way.

So what are some

practical ways

you can bear

another's burdens?

Just a few

that popped in my mind.

Help a brother move.

Moving out

at the end of the semester.

Pick up a couple of boxes.

Be available for a sister

at any hour of the night

or stay up late

in prayer

for someone.

Show up to help

with a project

on the property

here.

minister alongside

someone.

Service that somebody

is doing in the community.

Join them in that work.

Partner with them in it.

Give up your

free time

for the sake

of the kingdom.

College students,

let me speak directly

to you for a moment.

I know that you feel

busy.

That's a real feeling

that you're having.

I don't want to totally

negate the feeling

that you're having.

I know.

It is finals week.

This is maybe

the only week

you really have an excuse.

I know that the burden

of it is laid

on your shoulders

and you feel so busy.

Start getting into

healthy church habits

now.

Serving others.

Giving of your time

because you only

get busier.

I don't really

even know

the word

free time.

Like what

what is this thing

free time?

Invest in the kingdom.

Invest in eternal things.

And listen,

I'm not saying

that you can't

have hobbies

and that it's not

good and healthy

to unplug

from things sometimes

and just have

some fun.

Sam and I

are taking a vacation

this summer.

We're planning

on taking the boys

on our first

canoe camping trip.

This is a good thing.

Good for our family

to be together.

Good for me

to be far,

far away

from a cell phone

signal.

This has value.

But I can tell you

this,

that at the end

of my life

I'm not going

to look back

on my life

and wish

that I had

done more

whitewater paddling

or rock climbing

or played more

golf.

I would never

do that.

Or played more

video games.

I think that most

of us are going

to look back

on our lives

and say,

look at the time

that I wasted.

I flittered it away

on nothing

rather than investing

in my future.

You have so much

that you can give

to one another.

How can you know

someone's burdens?

Ask.

Everybody's hurting

in some way

at some time.

Ask.

And be willing

to hear the answer.

Ask somebody

how they're doing

and actually mean it.

When somebody says,

I'm not doing that well,

say,

tell me about it.

I wasn't just being cordial.

I really want to know.

How are you doing?

And how can I help

you bear up

when things aren't going

that well

in your life?

This all means

that relationships

in the church matter.

That the church

was meant to be relational.

It's about people

and not programs.

Programs don't matter

at all

if they're not helping

people be drawn together

in love

for one another.

They're pointless.

The relationships

matter.

We do community

outreach groups

as a way to develop

and to build

those things.

I've been visiting

around those groups

and I will tell you

there are so many

good, healthy things

happening

in what we're calling

our COGS.

Fantastic things

that are happening

but there's so much

more even still.

In so many ways still

they're program

and not people driven.

We need to be bonded

together.

We need to be,

as I love Kyle Webb

says so often,

a faith family.

Connected that way

because we're connected

by the blood

of Jesus Christ.

The world should see

the gospel

in the way

that we love each other.

If we have a hope

that produces love

then people should see it

and they should want

to understand it.

Peter exhorts

in 1 Peter 3.15

to always be prepared

to make a defense

to anyone who asks you

for a reason

for the hope

that is in you.

His suggestion here

is that if you are living

as believers ought to live,

people are going to ask you

about the hope

that you have.

What is this thing

that has made you

so different

and changed you?

And he's suggesting

that you have an answer

for that.

That you be ready

to give an answer

to such a question.

How many of us

are being asked

that question?

Many of us struggle

in evangelism

because we are peddling

a product

that really hasn't worked

for us.

There's not all

that much different

about who we are.

There's a chance

there's nothing different

about who you are.

We need to throw ourselves

into Christian love

for one another.

This will overflow

in our evangelistic efforts.

Look,

briefly,

I'm going to read this

to you fast.

The early church,

Acts 2,

42-47,

and they devoted themselves

to the apostles' teaching

and the fellowship,

to the breaking of bread

and the prayers,

and awe came upon every soul

and many wonders

and signs were being done

through the apostles.

And all who believed

were together

and had all things in common.

And they were selling

their possessions

and belongings

and distributing the proceeds

to all as any had need.

And day by day,

attending the temple together

and breaking bread

in their homes,

they received their food

with glad and generous hearts,

praising God

and having favor

with all the people.

Here they are doing

all this activity together.

This is early church.

Everything they're doing

is about being together

and doing things together.

Right?

Loving each other

the way believers

ought to love each other.

And then it's finished off.

Verse 47,

the Lord added to their number

day by day

those who were being saved.

It was being put on display

so that people were attracted to it

or repelled by it.

That'll happen as well.

But many, many

were attracted to it.

If you're not living

in a relationship

with the church,

begin.

Repent.

Believe.

It's time to start.

If you are,

just keep it up.

Keep plugging away at it.

I know that it's not easy.

The toughest thing

about Christianity

are Christians.

We're people.

We're a mess.

Right?

In great need of grace.

Even though we've been

delivered from sin,

our flesh still exists.

There's a battle going on

within all of us.

Praise God

that the victory

has been completed

and the good news

has conquered.

We need one another

to work out

our sanctification.

So that was number four.

Number five.

I'm almost done.

Number five.

Notice in the first part

of verse six.

The gospel has

and is

completing its task.

Paul says,

this gospel truth

which has come to you

as indeed in the whole world

it is bearing fruit

and increasing.

Paul is referring to

the known world,

the beyond,

the Jewish population,

the whole world

is what he's referring to

here.

It's bearing fruit.

It's increasing.

It's doing the thing

that it's set out

to accomplish.

God is ultimately

the source

of the power

in the gospel.

And he is accomplishing

his will

and his purpose.

Jesus says in Matthew 16, 18,

I will build my church

and the gates of hell

shall not prevail against it.

The gospel makes advance

in the world.

We don't hold back hell.

Hell shudders

in front of the gospel.

The gospel is going to overwhelm

and knock down

hell

and its dominion.

I will build my church

and the gates of hell

shall not prevail against it.

The gospel has and is

completing its task.

But the gospel has and is

completing its task

through the work

of faithful ministers.

God uses us

as his means

to accomplish

his ends.

Verse 7 and 8.

Just as you learned it

from Epaphras,

our beloved fellow servant.

He is a faithful minister

of Christ

on your behalf

and has made known to us

your love

in the Spirit.

The gospel has and is

completing its task

through the work

of faithful ministers.

If you were here last week,

you've heard this.

If you weren't,

Paul did not begin

the church in Colossae.

It was started by

a man named Epaphras

who likely had traveled

to Ephesus

some 120 miles to the west,

had heard the gospel,

became a believer,

and as a disciple

of Jesus Christ should,

he went back

and began to preach

the gospel

and establish disciples

which led to a church,

a gathering of God's people.

people.

Earlier I referenced

the words of Paul

in Romans 15

where he says,

citing Isaiah 52.7,

how beautiful are the feet

of those who preach

the good news.

Just before this,

he writes in Romans 10.14

and the beginning of verse 15,

hear the rest of that.

How then will they call on Him

in whom they have not believed?

And how are they to believe

in Him of whom

they have never heard?

And how are they to hear

without someone preaching?

And how are they to preach

unless they are sent?

And then he says,

how beautiful are the feet

of those who preach

the good news.

There's a real practicality

to the way in which

people come to saving faith

in Jesus Christ.

They must hear

the gospel of Jesus Christ

preached.

There are stories

all over the world right now

about people having visions

of Jesus and coming to faith

in Jesus Christ.

Don't believe it for a minute.

Maybe some of those things

are happening

and leading those individuals

to ask questions

of those who can preach

the gospel to them.

But the way that the gospel

of Jesus Christ

comes to the minds

and hearts of individuals

is through the preaching

of His Word.

God is raising up an army

for that very purpose.

Beloved, that is the purpose

of our church

and the purpose

of every individual in it.

The primary way

in which we glorify God

is by the making

of disciples.

This includes so much

about our Christian living.

But this is the drive

and the point.

Believers in Jesus Christ

bring about,

work toward,

strive for faith

in other people.

Ultimately and finally,

this is all a work of God.

While we recognize,

along with Paul and Timothy,

that God was the ultimate source

of the Colossian church,

we must also recognize

that He graciously involved

Epaphras in that process.

Not because God is somehow

incapable apart from us.

That God can't accomplish

exactly what God

sets out to accomplish.

He did not need Epaphras,

but He loved him.

And because He loved him,

He included him

in the great work

of the gospel advancement

in the world.

The same is true of us.

He doesn't need you,

but He wants you.

He wants to bless you

by involving you

in His kingdom advancement.

We get to experience

who God is

as we go about the work

of making disciples.

You want to know why

many of you are not growing

in your faith?

It's because you're not

actively working out

the things God

has told you to do.

You're not actually seeing Him.

You're not beholding Him

as He works in the world.

I would strongly suggest

that you do so.

It will bless you

beyond measure

to see that God

changes people.

It will encourage you

that He can still

change you.

You sometimes feel

trapped in your sin.

It could be because

you're not seeing God

as work in other individuals.

Paul later in his letter

to the Colossians

speaks of making the gospel

fully known to the Gentiles.

And then he says

in chapter 1, verse 29,

For this I toil.

For this I labor.

I work hard.

Struggling with all

His energy

that He powerfully

works within me.

The great promise

of Matthew 28, 18-20

which is known

as the Great Commission.

Jesus came and said to them,

All authority in heaven

and on earth

has been given to Me.

Go therefore

and make disciples

of all nations,

baptizing them

in the name of the Father

and of the Son

and of the Holy Spirit,

teaching them to observe

all that I have commanded you.

And behold,

I am with you always

to the end of the age.

Note

that the command

to make disciples

is incapped

by a statement of power

and by a promise.

Jesus says,

All authority

that doesn't exclude anything.

All authority

in heaven and on earth

has been given to Me.

I have a people

that I have redeemed

for myself.

My completed work

on the cross

has been accomplished.

There is a people

that I am seeking

in the world.

So,

go find them.

I have all authority.

It's all been given to me.

All dominion belongs to me.

And there's a purpose

I'm going to work out

in the life

of your church

and in you

as an individual.

So go

and make disciples.

and in the promise

that He will be with us

to the end of the age.

Beloved,

we have nothing

to fear

in advancing

the good news

of the Gospel

of Jesus Christ.

As God is for us,

who can be

against us?

And so,

in summary,

I just remind you

once again,

the Gospel gives

reason for thanksgiving.

The Gospel is believed

by saving faith.

The Gospel gives hope

because of the promise

of heaven.

The Gospel produces love.

And the Gospel has

and is completing its task

through the work

of faithful ministers.

Let's pray together.