Colossians Wk4

Col 1:6ff

Gospel

• The message of very good news• Last time we looked at a few Gospel terms,

this week we want to continue along in Colossians and see what effect the Gospel had on people and how it came to Colossae.

The big picture

Colossae

View to the west

A note on your Biblical text

• Greek and Hebrew are different from English• English Bibles include added words to make

the reading comprehensible to the English reader. Read the introduction to your Bible.

• We have some examples of this in verse 6• The good news is that we know which words

are added.

The Text Col 1:6

The Gospel came to them

• The Gospel always comes through a person. • You cannot look at the trees and know of

God’s salvation in Christ• You cannot tell it from the heavens– Yes, you can tell there is a God, but to KNOW Him

you must hear the gospel.

Gospel came to all the world

• Most commentators say, “the known world”– Or the Roman world

• I would not go so far as to say it is ‘hyperbole’ as other commentators say. (cf. Robertson’s Word Pictures, and Dr. Marvin R. Vincent)– It was going to all the world that anyone was

aware of at that time. America was not ‘discovered’ till over 1,000 years later.

Don’t hide it

• The Gospel is to be given freely.• Never should we keep it to ourselves• It should be extended to all peoples,

ethnicities, and cultures.– The whole world

Bearing fruit

• The primary fruit the Gospel bears is when someone BELIEVES and then OBEYS.

• The Colossian church is just one example.• The fruit of the Spirit was evident in Colossea.– But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,

longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. (Gal 5:22-23 NKJV)

Increasing (NAU)

• Generally speaking, the Gospel produces growth.– The word ‘increasing’ in the NAU means to make

grow, or to spread abroad.– This particular word is not in the KJV, it is in the

NAU because it is included in the Majority Text and the Nestle-Aland Greek NT both of which were collated after the KJV was printed.

The Colossians were ‘day one’ Christians

• Since the day they heard the gospel they began to bear fruit.

• I think most Christians are like that. • We need God’s help to keep on bearing fruit.

Grace of God in truth

• The Gospel of Jesus Christ originates in the truth of the Grace of God.

• Understanding the doctrine of the Grace of God is one of the first truths we learn as Christians

• The Colossians understood the grace of God.

Grace in the Gospel

• Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, (2Ti 1:8-10 NKJV Emphasis added)

Mind blowing Grace

• " 9 who has asaved us, and bcalled us with a holy ccalling, dnot according to our works, but according to His own bpurpose and grace which was granted us in eChrist Jesus from fall eternity," (2Ti 1:9 NAS)

Grace

• God’s: Good-will, loving-kindness, favor• Unmerited favor• Grace is received from God by FAITH– There is no sacrament or work that can be done to

obtain this grace. – Protestantism differs from Catholicism at this

point.

Grace in the Bible (NAU)

Grace

• Interesting that Grace is only in the very beginning and very end of the book of Revelation

• If you really want to learn about the grace of God Romans or Ephesians are the go to books.

• But we are sure to see it in Colossians also!

Epaphras

• What do we know about him?– He is likely the one who planted the church in

Colossae.– He was a faithful servant of Christ – He was a fellow slave with Paul in the work of the

Gospel– A teacher. The Colossians learned the gospel from

Epaphras.

Epaphras

• He was a man of prayer– Epaphras, who is one of you, a bondservant of Christ,

greets you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. For I bear him witness that he has a great zeal for you, and those who are in Laodicea, and those in Hierapolis. (Col 4:12-13 NKJV)

• It is instructive to see what he prayed for.– Stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.

Epaphras

• He was with Paul when he was writing the prison epistles (Ephesians, Phillipians, Colossians, Philemon) .

• He is mentioned in two of them by name– Colossians 4:12– Philemon 23

Epaphras

• Bond-servant or slave– Paul only uses this term when describing: himself,

Timothy, and Epaphras.• A wonderful Christian!!!!

Love in the Spirit

• This is a discernible trait, one which can be seen by others

• Epaphras saw this in the lives of the Colossians.

Love in the Spirit

• Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, (1Pe 1:22 NKJV)

Love in practice

• If you have a brother or a sister you know that fights are a part of growing up.

• The next day your out playing again. Your family and everything has been forgotten.

• It is the same in church, we sometimes tick other people off. Sometimes we get all bothered about something and get angry, maybe even argue with our Christian brother.

• Speaking the truth may offend.

Scripture’s admonition• " 25 Therefore, alaying aside falsehood, bSPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you

WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are cmembers of one another. 26 aBE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and do not agive the devil 1an opportunity. 28 He who steals must steal no longer; but rather ahe must labor, bperforming with his own hands what is good, cso that he will have something to share with 1one who has need. 29 Let no 1aunwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for bedification 2according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. 30 aDo not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, 1by whom you were bsealed for the day of redemption. 31 aLet all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be bput away from you, along with all cmalice. 32 aBe kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, bjust as God in Christ also has forgiven 1you." (Eph 4:25-32 NAU)

Colossians 1:9

• An ambiguous it.– Notice that the it in the phrase, “since the day we

heard of it” is in italics.– This may refer back to their “love in the Spirit” (vs8)– Or their “faith in Christ Jesus” (vs 4)

• Either way, there would be NO it without the Colossians being IN Christ (vs 2)

• I only bring it up because as Bible students we do want to be as accurate as possible.

‘It’ continued

• Several translations (such as NET, NIV, NLT), replace the it with ‘about you’.– The problem here is that, except for the NET, there is no

indication that a phrase has been supplied.• Maybe the translation that really got it right is Young’s

Literal Translation:– Because of this, we also, from the day in which we heard

(nothing here), do not cease praying for you, and asking that ye may be filled with the full knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, (Col 1:9 YLT comment added)

Paul’s prayer-will of God

• Filled with the (full) knowledge of His will– This is a super knowledge according to J. Vernon

McGee– Paul is talking about a deep and thorough

knowledge of His will• Recall Epaphras’ prayer:– "always claboring earnestly for you in his prayers,

that you may 1stand 2dperfect and 3fully assured in all the will of God." (Col 4:12 NAU)

The will of God

• I remember as a young person wondering what God’s will for my life was.– We often think like the world: who will I marry,

where will I live, where will I work, etc.– As important as those things are, it is not what

Paul prayed for the people in this case.

God’s will and free will• God did not make robots when he made Adam and Eve.

They were free to make their own decisions.• Even though they did not obey the command of God, and

thus sinned, God used the sin to work His own purpose.– " 22 1What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath

and to make His power known, endured with much apatience vessels of wrath bprepared for destruction? 23 And He did so to make known athe riches of His glory upon bvessels of mercy, which He cprepared beforehand for glory, 24 even us, whom He also acalled, bnot from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles." (Rom 9:22-24 NAU)

God’s will for your life

• If God wants you to know anything it is the Truth of scripture. Lets just look at a few verses:– "16 Let athe word of 1Christ richly dwell within you,

2with all wisdom bteaching and admonishing 3one another cwith psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, dsinging 4with thankfulness in your hearts to God." (Col 3:16 NAU)

The will of God• " 17 So then do not be foolish, but aunderstand what the

will of the Lord is." (Eph 5:17 NAU)• " 3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is,

that you aabstain from 1sexual immorality;" (1Th 4:3 NAU)• "18 in everything agive thanks; for this is God's will for you

in Christ Jesus" (1Th 5:18 NAU)• " 15 For 1asuch is the will of God that by doing right you

may bsilence the ignorance of foolish men." (1Pe 2:15 NAU)

• Any command in scripture is God’s will for you today.

The will of God do’s and don’ts

• "8 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for ahe who loves 1his neighbor has fulfilled the law. 9 For this, "aYOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET," and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, "bYOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." 10 Love 1does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore alove is the fulfillment of the law." (Rom 13:8-10 NAU)

God’s will

• What Paul is saying is that if you get the spiritual stuff right, the physical will follow.– Get the spiritual stuff right and then do what you

want• You will want to pick a godly mate• You will want to live where you can be of most use to

the Lord• You will not want to work at something that would be

unpleasing to the Lord.

God’s will

• I guess the main thing is not to get paralyzed over decisions.– Whatever you do, just be obedient to the principles in the

Word of God.• "Therefore aI urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God,

to bpresent your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, 1acceptable to God, which is your 2spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not abe conformed to bthis 1world, but be transformed by the crenewing of your mind, so that you may 2dprove what the will of God is, that which is good and 3acceptable and perfect." (Rom 12:1-2 NAU)

God’s will in the Lord’s prayer

• "9 "In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven." (Mat 6:9-10 NKJ Emphasis added)

• Paul was praying according to the Divine example Jesus left. He wanted the Colossians to be FILLED with the knowledge of His will.

Pray according to His will

• I’m not too sure about whether or not we should pray to get out of bad situations: health, finances, relationships. (self centered prayers)

• These are the gifts God brings us to teach us– " 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for

salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ," (1Pe 1:5-7 NKJ)

Do we have a joy in trial attitude?

• " 2 aConsider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter bvarious 1trials, 3 knowing that athe testing of your bfaith produces 1cendurance." (Jam 1:2-3 NAS)

• Remember what the pastor says, “problem, no problem”. Or “He is big, my problem is small”.

Knowledge of His will and wisdom

• I think Paul prayed this way because the two go hand in hand.– Know His will and do it– Have the wisdom to understand the consequences

of obeying Him and to know the sufficiency of Christ

…in all spiritual wisdom and understanding

• Spiritual wisdom is the wisdom from above.– " 17 But the wisdom afrom above is first bpure, then

cpeaceable, dgentle, 1reasonable, efull of mercy and good fruits, funwavering, without ghypocrisy." (Jam 3:17 NAU)

• Wisdom: Greek= Sophia– This word is used over 50X in the NT– Translated: wisdom (49X), cleverness (1X),

learning (1X) in the NAU

Sophia

13X in the first two chapters

Wisdom of God vs

the wisdom of this world

• " 18 For the word of the cross is afoolishness to bthose who 1are perishing, but to us who 2are being saved it is cthe power of God. 19 For it is written, "aI WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE." 20 aWhere is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of bthis age? Has not God cmade foolish the wisdom of dthe world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God athe world through its wisdom did not come to know God, bGod was well-pleased through the cfoolishness of the 1message preached to dsave those who believe." (1Co 1:18-21 NAU)

Wisdom and understanding

• Understanding literally means- a running together– Clearly, when two or more ideas begin to coalesce

in your mind you begin to have understanding.• Scriptural understanding is when various

truths in scripture begin to make sense.– Like what happened on the Emmaus road with

Christ and the two disciples (cf Luke 24:13-36).

Ultimate Understanding

Vs 10- walk worthy of the Lord

• What would that look like?• The verse says:– Pleasing Him– Bearing fruit– Increasing in the knowledge of God

Vs 11-Paul’s prayer cont.

• Strengthened with all power according to His glorious might– Many verses in the Bible teach the power of God.– Others teach the power available to Christians to

withstand evil• " 29 For this purpose also I alabor, bstriving caccording to

His 1power, which 2mightily works within me." (Col 1:29 NAU)

Power for steadfastness and patience

• Steadfastness- for enduring difficult people• Patience- for enduring difficult circumstances

Vs 12- thankfullness

• Again we see the principle of giving thanks to the Father (cf. vs 3)

• This qualifying will be the subject of our next study as we begin to look at the doctrine of eternal salvation.

• There is an inheritance for every believer in Christ.

Conclusion

• " 3 aBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who baccording to His great mercy chas caused us to be born again to da living hope through the eresurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to obtain an ainheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and bwill not fade away, creserved in heaven for you," (1Pe 1:3-4 NAU Emphasis added)

Homework

• Read Colossians this week, 1 Thessalonians next week.