Series: Colossians: Supreme!
Title: “What does a healthy church look like?”
Scripture: Colossians 1:1-8; Col 2:6, 3:1; Gen 1:28; Mark 4:8; Acts 18:18-19:22
(Commentary helps listed at the end)
Need: Grow in Christ-like character summed up as faith, hope and love.
Bottom line: We become a healthy church as each person grows in their faith in Christ, love for each other, and hope in the future.
INTRODUCTION
Opening story: Ken and I are going to play in our first Ultimate frisbee tournament next week in Sarasota, FL. I tell you this for 2 reasons:
We want to represent Christ well and play well. (And not get broken in the process)
It is an opportunity for me to explain to you a pivotal rule in the game. The Spirit of the Game.
The SOTG rule in short is to treat other players and fans as you’d like to be treated. If that sounds familiar, that’s probably because you’re familiar with the golden rule of Jesus.
The way it works in reality is that there are no referees in Ultimate. When a foul is called by a player, the opposing player either agrees and the penalty is assessed, or he disagrees. If he or she disagrees, they then take a couple of minutes to share their position. If they then agree, the penalty is assessed. If they still disagree, they part ways and the play is done over. The spirit of this rule is we’re not trying to get away with something but to honor the players by following the rules the best we can.
CONTEXT
The apostle Paul is going to hear about the Colossian church from Epaphras. He’s going to hear:
About their faith, love and hope.
About the false teachings that are moving in and infecting the church family.
It is in response to this second point that moves Paul to write this letter to them. He wants them to remain spiritually healthy in Christ.
The bullseye of discipleship at Grace CF is Christ-like character and competency. That’s high faith, love and hope according to Colossians 1 and Philemon 5.
Mark 4:8 and John 15:16 is all about us being fruitful by grace through faith. Are we?
THEME
Absolute supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus Christ as the head of all creation and of the church.
3:1 Overall exhortation/application: “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is (for now) seated at the right hand of God.”
2:6 Says it another way: “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.”
Bottom line: We reverse the curse in our own lives when we believe the word of God in word and action.
OUTLINE (Willmington’s Outline Bible)
Paul and the Church at Colossae (1:1-14, 24-29)
A. The apostle’s praise of this church. (1:1-8)
How they received the gospel (1-6); Paul commend them in regard to 3 things:
Their faith toward the Lord. (1-4a)
Their love toward one another. (4b)
Their hope toward the future. (5-6); They are looking forward to the joy of heaven (the best is yet to come)
From whomever they received the gospel. (7-8) Epaphras shared Christ with them and is now ministering with Paul.
CONCLUSION
Bottom line: We become a healthy church as each person grows in their faith in Christ, love for each other, and hope in the future.
Pray
Lord’s Supper, 1 Corinthians 11:17-32
OTHER NOTES:
From Warren Wiersbe’s commentary:
“Do the heavenly bodies have any influence over our lives? The millions of people who consult their horoscopes each day would say, “Yes!” In the United States, there are about 1,750 daily newspapers, and 1,220 of them carry astrological data!
Is there any relationship between diet and spiritual living?
Does God speak to us immediately, in our minds, or only through His Word, the Bible?
Do the Eastern religions have something to offer the evangelical Christian?
These questions sound very contemporary. Yet they are the very issues Paul dealt with in his magnificent Epistle to the Colossians. We need this important letter today just as they needed it back in a.d. 60 when Paul wrote it…
…All kinds of philosophies mingled in this cosmopolitan area, and religious hucksters abounded. There was a large Jewish colony in Colossae, and there was also a constant influx of new ideas and doctrines from the East. It was fertile ground for religious speculations and heresies!” - W Wiersbe
Our goal at Grace isn’t to become famous, but to be known for our love and faith…wow!
“Colossae was one of three cities located about 100 miles inland from Ephesus. The other two cities were Laodicea and Hierapolis (Col. 4:13, 16). This area was a meeting point of East and West because an important trade route passed through there. At one time, all three cities were growing and prosperous, but gradually Colossae slipped into a second-rate position. It became what we would call a small town. Yet the church there was important enough to merit the attention of the Apostle Paul...
“Colossae probably would never have been mentioned in the New Testament had it not been for the church there. The city is never named in the Book of Acts because Paul did not start the Colossian church, nor did he ever visit it. Paul had heard of their faith (Col. 1:4, 9); but he had never seen these believers personally (Col. 2:1). Here was a church of unknown people, in a small town, receiving an inspired letter from the great Apostle Paul!”
During Paul’s ministry in Ephesus, at least two men from Colossae were brought to faith in Jesus Christ—Epaphras and Philemon (see Phile. 19). Epaphras apparently was one of the key founders of the church in Colossae, for he shared the Gospel with his friends there (Col. 1:7).
Philemon had a church meeting in his home (Phile. 2). It is likely that Apphia and Archippus, mentioned in this verse, were respectively the wife and son of Philemon, and that Archippus was the pastor of the church (Col. 4:17).
OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS:
OUTLINES
Willmington’s Outline: (Bold would be this week)
I. Paul and the Church at Colossae (1:1-14, 24-29)
A. The apostle’s praise of this church. (1:1-8)
How they received the gospel (1-6); Paul commend them in regard to 3 things:
Their faith toward the Lord. (1-4a)
Their love toward one another. (4b)
Their hope toward the future. (5-6); They are looking forward to the joy of heaven (the best is yet to come)
From whomever they received the gospel. (7-8) Epaphras shared Christ with them and is now ministering with Paul.
B. The apostle’s prayer for this church. (9-14)
C. The apostle’s proclamation to the church. (1:24-29)
II. Christ and the Church at Colossae (1:16-23)
A. Who Christ is. (1:15)
B. What Christ has done. (1:16-23)
C. What we “get” to do as a result of who we are in Christ. (My addition)
Kent Hughes’ outline:
Background, context
I. A Celebration of Joy (1-2)
II. A Celebration of Thanksgiving (3-5a)
III. A Celebration of the gospel (5b-8)
OTHER NOTES
NT Wright notes:
Main thing: “He (Paul) is delighted to hear that the wonderful new plant of the gospel has been planted in Colossae, and that it’s bearing fruit and growing, as indeed it’s doing in the rest of the world.” P. 142
“He’s thanking God that it’s taking root with them, and he wants to tell them how to nurture it and help it to bear more fruit.” (Cf. John 15:16)
Fruit = love (fruit of the Spirit; Gal 5:22-23); Replaces fruit of flesh
How? “The word of truth of the gospel” is powerful!
cf. Mark 4:8 Parable of the Sower
Gen 1:28 “Be fruitful and multiply”
3 main features of this fruit: faith, love and hope. (Cf. 1 Cor 13:4-8)
“The faith that reaches out to grasp what God offers in King Jesus;’ the lovewhich binds the community together; the hope that looks eagerly forward to the time when God completes what he began in Jesus.” P. 144
Kent Hughes notes:
Dominant theme: Absolute supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus Christ as the head of all creation and of the church.
3:1 Overall exhortation/application: “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is (for now) seated at the right hand of God.”
2:6 Says it another way: “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.”
Hughes’ hope: That our view of Christ will be so expanded and permanently impressed on us that we will as a habit seek those things that are above (as we walk in him).
Background and context:
80 miles from Ephesus on the coast in western Turkey in the Lycus Valley.
A bit in the shadow of Hieropolis and Laodicea.
Probably came into being during Paul’s 2-year Ministry in Ephesus (Acts 15:10) because it says that during that time, “All the residents of Asia [which included Colossae] heard the word of the Lord.” P. 212
Epaphroditus and Philemon came to Christ during this time. Philemon later hosted a church in his home. Epaphras became a lieutenant in evangelizing the Lycus Valley.
Gnostics—those who professed superior knowledge—were a group of self-proclaimed spiritual elites who propagated a false gospel.
Base doctrine was basically dualism (Platonic) which said anything physical or created was evil and that only the spirit was good.
“To the gnostics, Christ was not Creator, the incarnation Was not real, adn Christ was not enough!”
This gnostic system was made up of ascetic disciplines (borrowed from Jewish legalism) designed to help you work your way up to God. Secret passwords, astrology and elements of Christianity all mixed up.
Very complex and proudly intellectual who looked down on the simple Colossian believers.
This is the alarming message Epaphras brought to Paul as he waited in prison.
Paul’s response presents Christ as Creator and fully sufficient Redeemer! Christ isn’t part of the answer—he’s all of the answer!
His celebration of them is ours too for we are the church.
I. Celebration of Joy (1-2)
A. Saints (holy ones)
B. Faithful brothers (family) in Christ.
C. “In Christ” i.e.
We all partook of all that Christ has done,
All that he was (and is)
And all he’d ever be
“Archeologists tell us that many of the nameless slabs in the catacombs of Rome carried the inscription “in Christo” (in Christ) and significantly also bore on the same slab its spiritual corollary “In pace” (In peace), testifying to the radical newness and joy that came in Christ.”
D. “Grace and Peace” are a Christian blend of Hebrew and Greek greetings.
Customary Greek greeting was chairen, a form of grace, meaning greetings. Paul made it charis or grace celebrating the work of grace in their lives.
Customary Hebrew greeting shalom or peace means more than simply the absence of trouble, but well-being that springs from a sense of the presence of God.
“It is the same for all people: there must be grace before we experience the shalom of God. Grace (God’s work) comes before peace (our new relationship).
II. Celebration of thanksgiving (3-5a)
A. Faith, hope and love are mentioned throughout the NT as a sort of “apostolic shorthand” for genuine Christianity. They can’t be manufactured by people—only from God.
Faith—
always named first because apart from faith in Jesus Christ, there’s no Christian experience of love and hope.
Jesus is the object of our faith. We either do or don’t believe that he is who he said he is and that he’ll do all that he’s promised to do.
Faith = putting your full weight on or trusting (think stool or plane ticket) Illustration: When I got on the plane to go to China in 2003 without meeting any of the team.
Love—
Love for all the saints. I.e. Christians or the Church.
Loving God is seen in how we love our neighbors. But our church family is even more important than that. (John 13:34-35) It’s not enough to be orthodox in your faith. There must be the fruit of love towards your spiritual family.
In that world, they were to love barbarian, Scythian, slave and free, male and female, Jew and Greek, learned and ignorant…joining hands around the table. It doesn’t matter what they look like, sound like or even smell like. We love them up close and personal.
Hope—
“The hope laid up for you in heaven” is another way of saying, “The best is yet to come.” This is the point of our series through Revelation we just finished.
Hope in heaven brings joy as you live in light of eternity where things will be so much better.
III. Celebration of the gospel (5b-8)
A. Paul celebrates the fruit of the gospel.
It’s power transforming power)
It’s reach (the whole region)
MAIN COMMENTARY HELP: (UPdate)
Exalting Jesus in Colossians
Preaching the Word: Philippians, Colossians and Philemon commentary by R. Kent Hughes
ESV Global Study Bible
Bible in One Year by Nicky Gumbel
Bible Knowledge Commentary
The Outline Bible, Wilmington
NT Wright’s commentary on Philippians and Colossians