Gospel Fruitfulness

Okay, this morning I am super excited.

We are diving into a study of the new book of the Bible.

Well, new for us.

It's been there 2,000 years.

It's not new to the Bible, but we are starting this morning.

We're going to be diving into the book of Colossians.

It's a book in the New Testament, and I have been praying for us as a church over the last

few weeks.

I've been asking some friends to pray for us as a church, and I really have been praying

that as we go through the book of Colossians, we'll get to see and understand something

more of who God is and what it means to be a Christian, what it means to be infused and

to find our life in Him.

And so for the next eight weeks, we're going to be looking at the book of Colossians.

Now, if you're here this morning and you wouldn't call yourself a follower of Jesus, that's fine.

You're so welcome.

We're glad that you are with us.

And my hope for you in this series is that you too will understand more of what the Bible

says about who Jesus is, what He came to do, and what it means for those that have put

their faith in Christ.

And so whether you are a seeker or a skeptic or a follower of Jesus, I'm hoping and trusting

that the next eight weeks is going to be good for us as a church.

Now, what I'm going to do this morning is I want to take the next couple of minutes to

explain some of the background to the story of Colossians, how it got into the Bible.

Then we're going to hear, Christina's going to read Colossians chapter 1 to us, and then

Colossians 1 · chapter mention

I'm going to preach the first half of chapter 1.

Okay, so this is the story.

So the year is around 52 to 55 AD, okay?

Over a three-year period, the Apostle Paul, the man who wrote much of the New Testament,

is in the city of Ephesus in modern-day Turkey, okay?

Chris and Fiona and a couple of others were just there last week or so.

So Paul's in this city called Ephesus.

It's a major trading city.

It's a major port town.

And he's there preaching for three years.

And he starts off in the synagogue, but pretty soon he's kicked out of the synagogue because

he's telling everyone about Jesus.

And so what he does is he rents a hall in the city of Ephesus.

And every day he's preaching and teaching and telling people about Jesus.

And what he's specifically doing is he's showing from the Old Testament scriptures how Jesus of

Nazareth really is the Christ, the promised Messiah.

But not only that, he's showing and proving from the scriptures how Jesus came to die,

to bear the sins of the world upon himself.

But he didn't stay dead.

He rose again, which vindicates his claim that he really is the Lord of all creation, okay?

So Paul's doing this for three years in Ephesus.

Now somewhere in that time, a wealthy businessman, a Gentile, so not a Jewish man, a Gentile called

Philemon from a town a hundred miles away called Colossae.

Have we got Philemon?

Okay, here we've got Philemon.

He's our wealthy businessman, okay?

And so Philemon, he happened to be Chinese.

How's that, eh?

Okay, I'm not going to make a comment.

So Philemon is this wealthy businessman from a town a hundred miles away, a town called Colossae.

And Philemon does a lot of business in Ephesus.

And so he comes to Ephesus, he's doing business, and while he's there, he hears about this man called

Paul that's causing a real stir and uproar in the city of Ephesus.

And so he goes to hear what Paul is talking about.

And while he's there, he hears the message of Jesus, but not only that, he sees the demonstration

of the power of God, because people that are sick are getting healed miraculously.

People who have been oppressed by spiritual forces and spiritual darkness are being set free.

And so to his own astonishment, Philemon believes the gospel, and God enters his heart and changes him.

And so over the next three years, he's discipled by Paul, and he travels between Colossae and Ephesus,

you know, doing business.

Now at the same time, there's another man who also comes from the town of Colossae.

This is a young man who's a bit more rugged, a bit more feisty.

His name is Epaphras, right?

Can you see Epaphras there?

So Epaphras also comes from the city of Colossae, and he's doing business in Ephesus.

And while he's there, he too goes to hear Paul, he hears the message of Jesus, the Holy Spirit

changes his heart, and he becomes a follower of Jesus.

Now Epaphras goes back to the city of Colossae, and he starts telling everyone about what

Jesus has done, that Jesus is the promised Messiah, the Christ.

And his friends and his family start to believe the gospel and become Christians as well.

Now Epaphras doesn't just go to Colossae.

He goes to all the surrounding towns, like Laodicea and Hierapolis, telling everyone about

Jesus.

And so pretty soon, there's this little church that starts to form in the city of Colossae.

And this church meets in the house of Philemon, the wealthy businessman, right?

Well, this goes on for a couple of years.

Now, there's a side story, a little cameo that's happening here.

Let me tell you about it.

Philemon, the wealthy businessman, he had a big estate, and he had some slaves that worked

on his estate.

And one of his slaves was called Enesimus, okay?

We have Enesimus, here's Enesimus.

And so Enesimus means useful.

But actually, he didn't live up to his name because he wasn't very useful.

He was a runaway slave.

So one day, he runs away from his master, Philemon, stealing some money in the process.

So he steals some household goods, steals some gold, and he runs away.

Now that wasn't that uncommon, but it was dangerous.

If you were a runaway slave and you got caught, you were in serious trouble.

So Enesimus runs a thousand miles away to the city of Rome, okay?

And there he goes into hiding.

It's a big city.

No one's going to recognize him.

He thinks he's a free man forever.

Jump forward six or seven years later.

Six or seven years later, Paul's no longer in Ephesus.

He's been traveling around, and Paul finds himself in the city of Rome.

But he's there arrested because he's been preaching the gospel.

In fact, he's under house arrest, okay?

So he lives in his own house.

He's under house arrest for two years.

And while he's there for two years, people are allowed to come visit him and talk to him.

And Paul tells everyone that he can about the wonder of Jesus.

And one day, he meets this man called Enesimus, this runaway slave.

And he tells him about Jesus.

God does something in his heart.

Enesimus becomes a Christ follower.

And then Paul puts two and two together and says, hang on.

Your old master, Philemon, is he in Colossae by any chance?

I know him.

And so Paul now knows his former master and this runaway slave, right?

And so Paul writes a letter to Philemon.

There's a book in the Bible called Philemon.

It's one chapter.

It's very short.

He writes a letter to Philemon saying, you'll never know who I've just run into in Rome.

Your former slave, Enesimus.

I'm sending him back to you, but this time receive him no longer as a slave, but as a brother.

An amazing letter about how God changes people and changes relationships.

Anyway, while Paul's in Rome, someone else comes to visit him.

Epaphras, okay, the long-bearded guy.

Epaphras comes to visit him in Rome.

And Paul hasn't seen him for years.

And so he says, Epaphras, how are things going?

How's Philemon and how's the church in Colossae doing?

And Epaphras gives him an update.

And he tells them this.

He says, things are going great.

The church is doing really well.

The church, they love Jesus and they love one another.

It's an amazing church.

Paul, you'd be so proud of them.

But there's a couple of challenges as well.

In fact, the main challenge that this church in the town of Colossae is facing is that the

surrounding culture of Colossae is influencing the church.

And so the church is being more influenced by the culture than the culture being influenced

by the church.

And so there's two things in particular.

The one is that there's a religious group of people in the town of Colossae that are

telling the Christians, listen, Jesus is good.

But if you really want to know God, you've got to add Jesus plus all the Old Testament

laws, right?

You've got to observe this Sabbath.

You've got to worship at this festival.

You've got to observe this new moon feast.

You've got to do all these religious things plus Jesus, right?

But there's another challenge.

The secular Roman culture is influencing the church.

And they say, listen, Jesus is good, but he's like one of all the other gods, Apollos

and Dionysus and all these other gods.

And if you really want to know who God is, you've got to worship the angels and you've

got to engage in ascetism.

You've got to flog yourself and fast and you've got to really seek the gods.

And Jesus is good, but he's just one of all these other gods.

And so Paul writes a letter back to the Colossians to help them understand.

And he says, this is what I want you to know.

I want you to see the supremacy of Jesus, that Christ is Lord of all things.

I want you to understand the power of the gospel.

And I want you to know what your life in Christ looks like, what it means to be a follower

of Jesus.

And so Paul gets his other friend, this is his fourth friend called Tychicus.

Okay, there's Tychicus.

Paul gets his friend Tychicus and he sends him a thousand miles away back to the town

of Colossae with three things.

He sends him with a letter to Philemon, the master, okay, the wealthy businessman.

He sends him with Onesimus, his former slave.

And then he sends a letter to the Colossians.

And he sends these two letters and Anesimus with Tychicus to the Colossians and encouraging

them to be deep in their understanding of who Christ is, deep in their understanding

of the gospel and what their life in Christ looks like.

And that letter is the letter to Colossians that we're going to look at for the next eight

weeks.

So on that note, Christina, will you come and read God's word to us this morning?

Let's listen to Colossians chapter one, verses one to 12, I think it is.

Yeah.

Please follow along in your bulletin or on the screen.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother, to the saints

and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae, grace to you and peace from God, our Father.

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 out for you

in heaven.

Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the

whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing 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 has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with knowledge

of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord,

fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God,

being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience

with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of saints

in light.

This is the word of God.

Great.

Okay.

Thank you, Christina.

Okay.

So, let's actually pray.

Let me just ask God to really speak to us.

Father, we come before your word this morning.

Father, we come because we want to meet with you.

We want to encounter you.

God, won't you bless the preaching of your word?

God, won't your word get inside of us?

And just as the Colossians, those 2,000 years ago, needed a revelation of your supremacy and

your wonder, God, won't you do the same for us?

We ask you to be with us now in your name.

Amen.

Amen.

Okay.

So, there's three sections to this passage of Scripture.

Okay.

Three kind of paragraphs.

The first one is a pretty standard greeting.

Paul says,

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother, to the saints

and faithful brothers in Christ in Colossae, grace and peace to you from God our Father.

Now, there's a whole lot of good stuff in there, but we're not going to get into it.

If we had to get into every good thing, we'd be here for a long, long time.

Okay.

So, Paul greets this church in Colossians.

The next two paragraphs we're going to look at today.

Okay.

Now, when we read the Bible, we want to know what is God saying in the Bible.

Okay.

We don't just read the Bible and say, this is what it says to me, because that might not

be what God is saying at all.

Right?

The Bible is not just a book of inspirational thoughts and ideas.

The authors that wrote it had an idea.

They were trying to communicate something, and God is trying to communicate something.

So, what we want to do is understand, God, what are you saying in the Bible, not just what

I think it might be saying.

And there's a couple of ways to work that out.

If you know Greek and Hebrew, you can study the structure and the sentences and all that

kind of stuff.

But if you don't know Greek and Hebrew, like most of us, one of the ways you can do it is

say, what are the literary devices that the author is using to help us understand or to

help get his main points across?

And one of the ways that authors do this is through repetition of words and phrases.

Okay?

So, remember two weeks ago, we saw this in Ruth chapter three.

Remember, Ruth chapter three starts off like this.

Naomi says to Ruth, should I not seek rest for you, my daughter?

Okay?

Then it goes through this whole story, and then it ends.

The last line is, Naomi saying to Ruth again, don't worry, the Redeemer will not rest until

he's sorted out the problem.

So, the first sentence and the last sentence both have this idea of rest.

And so, we know that Ruth chapter three is talking about finding rest in the great Redeemer

because there's this repetition.

It's a literary device the authors use.

Now, when we look at our passage today, are there any phrases or any words that are repeated

in the first paragraph and the second paragraph?

Anything that stands out to you?

Look at verse six.

Paul writes,

And then in verse 10, he says,

We've been praying that you'll be filled with the gospel, God's will and His understanding

of the grace of God, so that you can walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing

to Him, bearing fruit.

There's the same phrase.

In every good work, as you increase in the knowledge of God.

So, here Paul gives us a clue.

He's talking about, Paul's writing to these Colossian Christians and he's reminding them

that the gospel message is not just a message that you hear and understand with your head.

He's reminding them that the gospel is a life-changing, life-transforming power that when it gets inside

of you, it changes you and it impacts you in such a way that there's fruit in your life.

There's evidence that other people can see.

He says,

And so, this is Paul's big idea.

That when you become a Christian, it changes you, the gospel changes you.

But then he's going to go on to say that as you grow as a Christian, you've got to get

the gospel deeper into you that it continues to change you to bear fruit.

And so, these Christians in Colossae, the thing that differentiates them from secular culture

or from worshippers of other gods is not the intensity of their worship.

It's not how dedicated they are.

It's got nothing to do with them.

What separates them is that the gospel, the power of God, came from outside of them, got

into them, changed them, and is now bearing fruit for all to see all over the world.

And there's two sections here.

And so, Paul is going to talk about in the first section how the fruit or the impact of

the gospel has on people when they come to Christ.

And the second section, the fruit or the impact that the gospel has on us as we continue to walk

with Christ.

Okay?

So, that's where we're going this morning.

So, let's look at the first section together.

Verses 3 to 8.

Look at what Paul says.

Look at verse 3.

He says,

We thank God whenever we pray for you.

Why?

Why does he thank God?

Well, two reasons.

We thank God because of your love that you have for Christ, your faith that you have in

Christ, and the love that you have for all the saints.

Okay?

So, Paul's heard from Epaphras.

He's sitting under house arrest in Rome.

He says,

Tell me what's happening in Colossae.

And Epaphras tells him about these two things.

Their great faith in Christ and their love for all the saints.

Now, at its most basic form, these two things is what God always requires of all his people.

To love God and love people.

Remember, someone comes to Jesus and says,

Jesus, there's this whole Old Testament.

What are the greatest commandments?

What should we really focus on?

And Jesus says,

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, and your strength.

And love your neighbor as yourself.

And that's why it's impossible when people say,

I love Jesus.

It's just the church I don't really like.

I love Jesus, just his people I can't put up with.

It's impossible.

Because wherever in the Bible, these two things come together.

Love Jesus, love his people.

Serve Jesus, serve his people.

And so that's exactly what Paul has heard has happened to these Christians in Colossae.

The gospel's got inside of them.

And it's stirred in them a deep faith in Christ, a love for Christ, and a love for his people.

And this comes from the gospel.

Now, how does Paul describe the gospel?

What does it mean?

What does it look like?

Well, he actually gives three phrases for it.

He says,

It is the hope that is laid up for you in heaven, verse 5.

He calls it the word of truth, and he calls it the grace of God.

So this message, this good news message about the grace of God, that we're all sinners that are saved by grace.

Sinners like the runaway slave Inesimus, and Epaphras, and Philemon, and me, and you.

The grace of God has come to us.

This good news about the truth of God, that all of us are sinners, but Jesus has died on the cross for us.

This eternal and unshakable hope that we have in Christ because he rose from the grave.

He's no longer dead.

Paul says,

This powerful message is not merely a message that you believe, or that you remind yourselves of every week when you go to church.

This gospel is a power that gets inside of you that changes you on the inside and results in fruit in your life.

But Paul says,

This shouldn't surprise us.

Because what happened in Colossae is actually what happens all over the world.

Wherever this gospel message goes, it produces fruit.

What happened to Inesimus the slave, and Epaphras, and Philemon,

these aren't freak accidents.

These aren't people that had a religious experience and suddenly decided to become religious.

Actually, wherever the gospel goes, it changes people.

And friends, I want to say to us that this should give us two things.

The power of the gospel to change people's lives should make us both confident and humble at the same time.

It should give us great confidence because in our mission as a church, we want to join Jesus in his mission.

We want to help people find and follow Jesus.

We want to be a church that is making mature disciples of Jesus in the city of Hong Kong

that are going to impact other people for the glory of God in Hong Kong.

That's what we want to do, right?

And this, the power of the gospel should give us great confidence as we go out doing that.

Because for 2,000 years, in every country, in every century, in every corner of the globe,

wherever the gospel has gone forward, it's changed people's lives.

It's done so in powerful cities like Rome and London and New York and Hong Kong and Shanghai.

God has changed people's lives.

But it's also done so in backwater towns in Africa and India and in China.

The gospel has gone inside of people and changed them and borne fruit in their lives

with the educated and the sophisticated and the elite.

But it's also done so with the simple and the uneducated.

In every corner of the globe, across the ages, in every city of the world,

God's power has got a hold of people and changed them.

As he says, just as it did amongst you, and it's borne fruit in their lives.

Because, you know, when we were considering moving to Hong Kong,

so a long process, chatting to the elders.

And then I think it was around June, July last year, we all agreed,

hey, it feels like God is in this.

And so we were coming to Hong Kong.

And then we had six months before we came here.

And I've got to be honest, in my own heart,

there was not just a little amount of angst or concern.

Because as I think about myself, I know that I'm not particularly oppressive.

I mean, many people in this church are more educated than me,

more sophisticated than me, older than me, wiser than me.

And so as we thought about this, it's like,

well, what am I going to bring to Watermark Church?

And the pressure to possibly perform,

I don't have the goods to win the crowds or perform

or to put on a good show that's going to impress people.

But I'll tell you what gave me such confidence.

I'll tell you what gave me conviction.

It's the absolute certainty that I knew, that I knew, that I knew,

that in my heart, this gospel message has a power

that changes people's lives and bears fruit.

And so you don't need to come and perform.

You don't need to come put on a show.

You don't need to come and win people over.

Because as you bring the gospel,

the gospel is a power that bears fruit in people's lives.

And so Watermark, I want to say to us that

as we seek to make a difference for Christ in our city,

as we host Elphas, as we reach out to people,

as we put on events, we can have great confidence

knowing that the power of God is not in us.

It's not in our great shows.

It's in the gospel.

And Paul writes and he says,

Don't you remember that just as the gospel is born fruit in your life,

so it does in the whole world,

wherever people are hearing the word of truth

and understanding the grace of God.

And this powerful message should give us great confidence as a church.

But on the other hand, it should also humble us.

And Watermark, I want us to hear this.

I want us to take careful note of this.

Because as I try and listen to what's going on

in the church circles around the world,

the trend at the moment and the way many churches are going

is to find their confidence in human ability,

in putting on a great show,

in dynamic speakers, in great oratory skills.

The temptation that we're going to face as a church

is to put our confidence in having the right show

and speaking the right lingo

and putting on a great performance

and thinking that if we attract people

and people join our church,

then we've been successful.

But in the New Testament,

neither Paul nor no one celebrates

that success is attracting people

and growing into a big church.

That's not the mark.

What does Paul celebrate?

Well, he tells us here in Colossians 1.

He says,

We thank God every time we pray for you

because we hear that the gospel is bearing fruit in your lives,

as indeed it does in the whole world.

And so Watermark, I want to encourage us.

We need to be careful about getting too confident

in our ability to produce fruit in people's lives.

Before any of us were born,

God's word was going forward and changing people

and producing the fruit.

And so Paul writes and he says,

We thank God whenever we pray for you

because we've heard of your faith in the gospel.

We've heard how this has changed in you,

as producing fruit,

as indeed it does in the whole world.

The gospel changes lives.

Now, look at the second section.

Look at verse 9 to 12 with me.

Paul has been reminding these Christians in Colossae,

whom he's never met.

So they didn't become Christians

because of his great oratory skills

or his persuasive argument,

or because Paul himself was very impressive.

He's never been to the city of Colossae.

He's never met them.

They became Christians through this other guy, Epaphras.

But he carries them in his heart.

And so he's reminding them of the power of the gospel

that got inside of them

and caused this combustion to take place in their lives

and change their lives.

And so he writes this.

And so from the day we heard,

we have not ceased to pray for you.

Now, here's the question, right?

What do you pray for a church

that is experiencing this gospel explosion to take place?

So here's a church that's six, seven,

maybe eight years old.

Good things are happening.

God's gospel's got there.

People's lives are being changed.

It's a great community.

They love one another.

There's a couple of challenges,

but generally the church is going really well.

Sounds a lot like Watermark, right?

Eight years old, great community.

What do you pray for such a church?

What do we pray for Watermark?

What should we be praying?

Well, look at what Paul prays.

He says,

And so from the day we've heard,

we have not ceased to pray for you,

asking that you may be filled

with the knowledge of God's will

in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord,

fully pleasing to Him,

bearing fruit,

there's our phrase again,

and increasing in the knowledge of God.

Let's think about this.

What does Paul mean when he says,

I pray that you'll be filled

with the knowledge of God's will

in all spiritual wisdom and understanding?

Most of life is made up of making decisions, right?

We all make decisions all the time.

Big decisions, small decisions,

long-term decisions, short-term decisions.

We all make many decisions.

And how easy would it be

every time we had a decision to make,

we just looked up to clouds

and we could know what God's will was, right?

Or just like a sign fell from heaven on your desk, okay?

Employ this person, don't employ this person.

You wanna go to university next year?

Go to A, don't go to B, right?

Life would be so simple

if every time we had to make a decision,

we just knew, okay, God, this is your will,

I'll do it, right?

But the truth is that life is not that simple, right?

Life is far more complex.

It's far more nuanced

than just simple answers to life's questions, right?

Life is full of complexity and nuance

and there's difficulty.

God never intended life to be so one-dimensional.

So simplistic, right?

God never intended the Christian life to be one

in which every time you've got a decision,

you just look up the clouds

and you know what is his will.

God, should I wear this suit today or this suit?

Should I catch the 40M to church

or the 22 minibus, right?

Lord, what is your will?

Please tell me.

No, God just says,

you've got a brain, you get on with it, okay?

Now, here's the problem with most,

not most, let's say some education systems.

I don't know what it's like in Hong Kong,

but where we come from.

The problem with some education systems

is we teach our children and our young adults

just to memorize the right answer, right?

So memorize the answer

and the problem is that when you get out of university

and you enter the real world,

you realize that life is more complex

than just knowing the simple answer

to the simple equation.

Now, in many ways,

we're tempted to treat God and faith in the same way.

But as we said, life is more complex than that.

Think about marriage and dating

and singleness and relationships.

I mean, that's complex.

It's not as simple as just A or B,

which one do I choose?

These things are nuanced and difficult.

You think that's complex,

what about parenting?

That's a whole nother level, right?

You can't just flip to the Bible.

Let me put it this way.

When your four-year-old daughter

spits on your six-year-old daughter,

just saying hypothetically,

yeah, might have happened in our household

in the last 24 hours,

you can't just go to the Bible

and turn to the index page and say,

what do you do when your daughter

spits on your daughter?

Oh, page 700.

Okay, now I know the will of God.

These things like parenting

and relationships are complex.

They're difficult, right?

What about handling employees at work?

You want to help your employees succeed and do well,

but you also want to do what's well for the company,

what's good for the company.

What about when you are an employee

and your boss is mistreating you?

How do you respond to your employer?

What about race relations and ethnic minorities?

What do we do about racism and prejudice?

And what do we do when people

from a different culture come

and they handle things differently?

How do we handle these things?

What do you do when someone hurts you?

Someone lets you down.

Someone rejects you.

Someone causes offense.

You can't just treat the Bible

like a university textbook,

flip to the relevant page,

and it'll just tell you what to do

in this exact situation.

So friends, what do we need to know God's will?

How do we live this life that's pleasing to God

in the complexity and the difficulty

and the nuance of everyday life?

Well friends, what we need

is we need a framework.

We need a paradigm.

We need a worldview to understand who is God,

what is God doing in the world,

and what are God's ways in the world?

We need to understand not just the simple answer,

but what are God's ways

and his dealings with the world

that'll give us a wisdom and understanding

to know how to handle the complexities of life.

Does that make sense?

So what is this paradigm?

How are we gonna understand God's ways

and what is God doing in the world?

How do we handle the complexities of life?

Friends, we need a worldview that tells us

that though everything in the world

has been tainted by sin

and feels the effects of sin,

Jesus Christ, our great Redeemer,

the true and better Redeemer

that we've been hearing about,

has come and died and rose again

to rescue and restore,

to bring us into his family,

to redeem the world through his atoning death.

Friends, we have a worldview that says

though the world is damaged by the effects of sin

and the fall,

Christ died and rose again,

and he's now the head of a brand new creation,

a whole new body of people called the church,

that he's making all things new.

Friends, we need a worldview.

We have a worldview that says

though life is tough

and it's full of disappointments

and people let you down

and people hurt you,

if you are in Christ,

then Christ is in you.

Christ, your hope of glory,

the hope of redemption

and reconciliation

and new things in this life.

Friends, we have a worldview that says

the way to know God

and walk with God

is not found in keeping religious traditions

and Sabbaths

and new moon festivals

and worshiping angels.

That's not the way to know God.

The way to find the God

who made you

and knows you better

than anybody else in the world

is to come to him

through the God

that reveals himself to you.

Friends, we have a worldview

that says

though there are spiritual forces in the world

accusing Christ followers

and reminding us of our sin,

Christ has nailed our accusations to the cross

and he's disarmed the rulers

and the authorities and the powers,

the very things that try and hold you back,

Christ has defeated them in the cross.

Friends, we have a worldview that says

though every one of us here

are far more sinful

than we could ever imagine,

because of Jesus

we are actually more loved

than you could ever believe.

And therefore we can have grace.

We can have grace towards others

when they hurt us

and they let us down.

We can have grace towards other people

that we don't understand

when cultures clash.

We can have grace towards our children.

We can have grace towards our spouses.

We can have grace towards ourselves

when we make mistakes

and we are at fault

because of who Jesus is.

Friends, in short,

what we need is a gospel paradigm,

a gospel framework,

a gospel worldview

that teaches us

how to see the world.

Not just what to do

and employ person A,

employ person B,

do this,

go to this college,

don't go to this college.

What we need is a gospel framework

and a paradigm

that helps us understand the world.

It helps us understand

that grace triumphs over hostility,

love triumphs over hatred

and eventually Christ triumphs over sin.

And what happens

when we get this gospel paradigm?

What happens when we see the world

the way that God really made it,

what God's really doing in the world?

What happens when we see

the supremacy of Christ

over all things

and our life in Him?

Paul writes and he says,

you'll have a spirit of wisdom

and understanding.

You'll know how to walk

in a manner worthy of the Lord,

fully pleasing to Him.

You'll bear fruit in every good work

and increase in the knowledge of God.

And the rest of chapter 3 and 4

in the book of Colossians,

Paul is going to show

how this gospel framework,

this understanding of the ways of God

and the world of God,

of who Christ is

and what He came to do

and how His death and resurrection

changes everything,

Paul is going to show

that this paradigm

helps husbands and wives

in their marriages.

He's going to show in chapter 3

how this paradigm

helps parents parent their kids.

He's going to show

that this gospel paradigm

helps bosses with their employees

and employees respond to their bosses.

He's going to show

how this paradigm

helps people that are

in enmity of each other

and don't get along with each other

and don't understand

each other's cultures and races.

Actually, this paradigm

helps people find each other

and are unified

and destroys racism in the church.

Friends, what we need

is this gospel paradigm.

We need to be filled

with the knowledge of God's will

and all wisdom and understanding

so as to know how to walk

fully pleasing to Him,

bearing the fruit

that God has got planned for us.

And so what this means

is that Watermark,

as a church,

we, like the Colossians,

need to get this gospel

deeper into our hearts.

You know, every month

I have a Skype call

with four other pastors

in the Asia-Pacific region.

And we chat together

and we learn from each other

and try to encourage each other

and pray for one another.

And one of those pastors

is in Australia,

in Perth.

He planted this church

about six years ago.

They've got about 150 people.

It's a good solid church.

A South African-born Australian now.

And one of those pastors

is a Japanese man in Tokyo.

He's in the process

of planting his church.

They've got about five people

in their church.

So it's like very early days.

But he's an outstanding man.

Okay, Sator.

Another one of those pastors,

also a Japanese guy

called Rauta,

also in Tokyo.

Started his church

five, six years ago,

about 150 people or so.

And then the fourth pastor

is actually my brother

in Singapore.

And he planted his church

10 years ago

and they've got a big church,

right?

Over a thousand people or so.

And so once a month

we get together

and we chat

and we say,

what's going on?

How can we pray for each other?

And so about six weeks ago

I said to them,

won't you email me each

three things I can pray for you?

I want to commit to praying

for you four guys

and your churches.

Email me three things

that I can pray for you.

And I was astounded

because they emailed separately

four people.

All of them are older than me.

All of them are more gifted than me.

All of them are more godly than me.

All of them are better leaders than me.

And yet all four of them,

their first point

was the exact same thing.

Just phrased in different ways.

This is what they said.

They said,

Kevin,

pray that the gospel

will get deeper

into my own heart.

That I will love Jesus more.

That I will understand

my sin more

than I'll understand

the wonder of Jesus more.

Here are four leaders

that are way further

down the road than me.

Way better than me

than I ever will be.

And yet their prayer was this.

Don't pray that

we'll have an easy church.

Don't pray that all the obstacles

will go out the way.

Don't pray that life

will be comfortable

and convenient.

Pray this,

that the gospel

will get deeper

into my heart.

And friends,

this message of the gospel

is not just something

you believe

in order to become a Christian.

It's exactly what we need

to believe deeper

and more profoundly

in order to grow

as a Christian.

The Bible is not just

a handbook

how to get us through life.

The Bible is the revelation

of who God is,

the supremacy of Jesus

and our life in Him

and what the gospel is

and it helps us

to understand God

and His ways in the world.

Friends,

what you and I need

is far more

than just simple answers

to complex questions.

Which suit should I choose?

What university should I go to?

What job should I take?

What you and I need

is the paradigm

of who God is

and the wonder

of Christ's gospel

to get deep into our hearts

and to bear fruit

in our lives.

Friends,

the fruit of the gospel

is not just evident

in the lives of those

who come to Christ

in faith and repentance

once upon a time.

It's equally beautiful

and equally evident

in the lives of those

who constantly come back

to the rugged cross.

Say,

Christ,

have your way in my life.

Jesus,

come and change me.

Let me close with this.

John Piper said it like this.

Watermarks seek to see

and feel the gospel

as bigger

as the years go by

rather than smaller.

Our temptation

is to think

that the gospel

is for beginners

and then we go

on to greater things.

But the real challenge

is to see the gospel

as the greatest thing

and getting greater

all the time

in our lives.

The gospel gets bigger

in your heart

when grace gets bigger,

when Christ gets greater,

when His death

becomes more wonderful,

His resurrection

more astonishing,

when the work

of the Spirit

is mightier

and the power

of the gospel

is more pervasive,

when your own sin

gets uglier,

when the devil

gets more evil,

the gospel's roots

go into eternity

deeper

and its connections

with everything

in the Bible

and in the world

get stronger

and the magnitude

of its celebration

in eternity

gets louder.

And so keep this in mind.

Never let the gospel

get smaller

in your hearts.

Pray that it won't.

Read about it.

Sing about it.

Tell someone about it.

But whatever you do,

never let the gospel

get smaller

in your hearts.

Prince Paul writes

to the Colossians

and he says this,

I thank my God

every time I think of you

because we've heard

of your love

in the Lord Jesus Christ,

your faith in the Lord

Jesus Christ

and the love that you have

for all the saints.

Ever since you heard

the word of truth,

the gospel,

just as it came to you

as indeed in the whole world

it is increasing

and bearing fruit

as it does amongst you

since today you heard it

and understood

the grace of God

in truth.

This week as we go

to work,

as we go to our homes,

as we travel,

as we engage with business,

as we engage with family

and relatives

and parents,

let us ask God

to drive the wonder

of who Christ is,

the ugliness of our own sin

and the wonder of Jesus.

Let us ask Christ

to drive that deeper

into our hearts

and who He is

and what He came to do

that we will bear fruit

in every good work.

Let's pray together.

I want to pray for us

that both as individuals

and as a church

that the gospel

will get deeper

into our hearts.

The horror of sin

and the wonder of Jesus,

what God is doing

in the world,

the power of Christ

who triumphed over sin.

I want to pray

that this gets deeper

into our hearts

but I want to ask you

to pray with me.

I want to ask you

to pray for yourself.

Maybe it's been

a long time

since you

were brought to your knees

and in awe

of who Christ is

and what He's done

in the world.

Maybe you've become

blasé

and familiar

with Jesus

and the gospel.

Even that word gospel

might become

just so familiar.

Friends,

when was the last time

we were brought

to our knees?

When was the last time

we had tears

rolling down our face

at the

incredible thing

of the cross

and what Jesus did

and who He is?

Father God,

I pray that You'll

deliver us

from becoming

familiar

and blasé.

God,

I pray

won't You

deliver us

from thinking

that the gospel

is for once upon

a time

but now

we've got to

by our own

effort

grow God.

Won't You

drive

the wonder

of who Christ is

and the power

of God

deep into our hearts

God?

Father,

as a church

we want to be

a church

that is

bearing fruit

for You

that people

can see

the difference

and the impact

in our lives.

We ask You

God,

won't You

give us

Your Holy Spirit

to do that

Lord?

Won't You

fill us

with the knowledge

of Your will?

Won't You

give us

the spirit

of wisdom

and understanding?

Won't You

give us

a gospel

framework

and paradigm

God?

To live out

our lives

pleasing for You

and bearing

fruit for Your

glory.

Father God,

won't You

dismantle

the idols

in our life?

The things

we hope

and trust

in

rather than You?

Won't You

destroy them?

Won't You

God,

come and open

our eyes

to see

the wonder

of Christ?

Friends,

if you're

in the place

where you

just are

a bit too

familiar

or a bit

blasé about

God,

why don't you

ask God

to do that

in your own

heart?

Ask God

to get a hold

of you again.

Ask God

to break

your heart.

Ask God

to bring

you to

your knees.

Holy Spirit

asks you

to come

and do

that.

Come and

do that

for all

of us

God.