23.01.11 AM Sermon Christ and the Christian Gospel # 2 - The Church of Christ (Col 1:1-14)
Paul – the Thanksgiving he offers (Colossians 1:3-8)
It is good to give thanks, to express our gratitude, and we see at the outset of this letter that the apostle Paul writes to the Colossians, that Paul is thankful and takes the opportunity to express his thanksgiving.
May we follow his example of thankfulness, punctuating our lives with thanksgiving, living gratefully.
It is said that “Gratitude is the least of the virtues, but ingratitude is the worst of vices.” (Thomas Fuller).
We can, all too readily, live out our lives taking things and people for granted, but Paul shows us that “Gratitude is the best attitude.” (Anon) - He and Timothy are thankful for the Colossian Christians and they express this thankfulness to God in prayer.
How our lives would be transformed, how the life of the church would be transformed, how this world would be transformed if, when we are tempted to moan and complain and grumble, criticise and put others down, instead we gave thanks to God for others, in prayer, and if we expressed that thanks to those others, even those others that we find challenging.
“The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.” (Eric Hoffer)
Paul has some tough things to say to the Colossians, he has some correction to bring, but he begins by expressing his thanksgiving.
I wonder, “What and who are you are thankful for?” - Why not take time each day to express that thanks?
Paul is thankful concerning the Colossians in regard to two areas :
(1.) The fruitfulness of the gospel among them, and (2.) The fruitfulness of the gospel in the world
1. The fruitfulness of the gospel in Colosse
Paul is thankful for the way in which the gospel has produced fruit in the Colossians’ lives.
How do the Colossians display evidence of the fruitfulness of embracing the gospel – the life and teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ amongst them ? They do so in the way in which they conduct themselves.
Fruitfulness starts from within and is displayed on the outside.
The genuineness of a life found in Christ is shown through the fruit of our lives.
Jesus said, (Luke 6:44) “Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers.”
And Paul sums up the fruit of the gospel is in a familiar trio of virtues – faith, love and hope.
Three qualities of a life exemplifying Christ that he refers to a few times in his letters.
(1 Corinthians 13:13)“These three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
(1 Thessalonians 1:3)“We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labour prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”
(1 Thessalonians 5:8)“Since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.”
Faith, love and hope, Paul says are hallmarks of the work of God in the Colossians’ lives, and in our lives.
a. Faith
The faith that Paul speaks about is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Not faith in self, in fate, in religion, in angels or the stars.
What matters is not that I have faith, but that I have faith in the Jesus revealed in scripture.
The Jesus who being God himself, humbled himself and became a real man, he lived a perfect life, he died for me, yet rose from the dead, he ascended to be with the Father and is now by His side interceding for me.
Paul points out that the Colossians had looked to this Jesus for their salvation and trusted him to overcome their sin and defeat their enemies, even though now they were trying to add to him by rules and religious practices and a reliance upon angels - and by trying to add to him, they were in fact taking away from him and making him out to be an insufficient and ineffective Saviour.
Faith speaks of the upward dimension of our belief - a faith that finds its focus in Christ Jesus.
b. Love
Secondly Paul points out the Colossians’ love - a love they have “for all the saints.” (v4)
Where Faith speaks of the upward dimension of our belief, Love speaks of the outward dimension of our belief.
The word for ‘love’ that Paul uses here is Agape love – love that gives itself beyond reason and calculation.
May this love come to characterise our lives, and our life as a church.
A love that stems from a faith in Christ Jesus.
Jesus said, (John 13:34) “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
Here is a love that transcends troubles, that breaks through barriers, that overcomes obstacles.
Here is a love that frees us from being preoccupied with our own concerns and problems and releases us to be concerned for others – to give ourselves in the service of others instead of self.
Such a love is counter-cultural and supernatural. It is a love that comes from the Holy Spirit of God working his love, the very love of God, deep in our lives and flowing from within and through us.
A love that we cannot generate from within, we cannot manufacture, we cannot work up, but a love that is graciously granted to us – from outside our ourselves, yet flowing from within ourselves as the Holy Spirit resides within. A extra-mile love that goes beyond ourselves and our own meagre lacklustre tainted love.
Jesus speaks about our need as branches to remain in him, the Vine, for his life to remain in us.
(John 15:1,4-5,9-10,17) “I am the true vine … Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” … “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” … This is my command: Love each other.”
We love, because he first loved us and gave himself for us!
c. Hope
The third aspect of the fruit of the gospel in their lives has a forward dimension to it.
Paul frequently uses the trio of faith, hope and love in his writings, but he feels free to alter the order so that the one he really wants to emphasise comes last - it serves as the crown of the trio. Here the emphasis is on hope. The faith and love which the follower of Christ has, arises from the hope that is stored up for them in heaven - a hope that finds its goal and fulfilment in Christ.
He is stressing that the Colossian Christians must not give up or be side-tracked.
They need to keep persevering in the faith they have learned.
Hope is essential if we are to keep going.
Hope differs from faith - Jurgen Moltman explains :
“… faith believes God to be true, hope awaits the time when his truth shall be manifest; faith believes that he is our Father, hope anticipates that he will ever show himself to be a Father towards us; faith believes that eternal life has been given to us, hope anticipates that it will someday be revealed; faith is the foundation on which hope rests, hope nourishes and sustains faith … Without hope faith falls to pieces, becomes faint-hearted and ultimately a dead faith. It is through faith that man finds the path of true life, but it is only hope that keeps him on the path.”
You see, without the hope of graduating one day, the student might throw in the towel and give up their studies.
Without the hope of passing the test, the learner driver might leave the car in the garage and get on the bus.
Without the hope of wearing that particular wedding dress one day, the bride might give up her diet and open the biscuit tin.
Future goals held out to us in the present as a promise to be realised in the future, often determine how we live.
Paul wanted the Colossians to know that their hope of heaven would keep them believing and keep them loving.
In the Message version of the Bible we read of how Paul thanks God for the Colossian Christians because “the line of purpose in your lives never grow slack, tightly tied as they are by your future in heaven, kept certain by hope”.
Hope is not wishful thinking – it is concrete thinking – it is a hope based upon Christ Jesus - upon his finished work of the cross and resurrection.
Now, to these three virtues of faith, love and hope, Paul adds two other great words of the gospel
– Grace and Truth.
In verse 5 he talks of them hearing about the word of truth and in verse 6 he talks about the Colossians understanding God’s grace in all its truth.
Grace and Truth characterised Jesus Christ, and equally they characterise the good news preached about him. John 1:14 “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
The gospel about Jesus is a grace to be received and a truth to be understood.
Paul tells them that they have understood it, and for that he is thankful.
But clearly they had not understood it fully.
That’s why he needs to go over it more thoroughly with them again. We all need to grow in grace and truth.
“Grace isn't a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal. It's a way to live.” (Jacqueline Winspear)
We, like the Colossians, need to ensure that we are thoroughly grounded in the gospel of grace and truth, and growing in the fruit of faith, love and hope, and by doing so, we shall contribute towards the second thing that Paul is thankful for …
2. The fruitfulness of the gospel in the world
What was happening in Colosse was no isolated incident.
The gospel was bearing fruit all over the world – and still is.
If the Colossians were ever tempted to think of themselves as a tiny and isolated community or were ever tempted to turn back because of the seeming lack of success, they needed to stand back and view things in a much wider perspective.
The story of the growth of Christ’s church is one of the most remarkable stories of all time – and we as church are part of that living, present story.
We are part of a bigger picture – one of the cogs in a much larger wheel.
This gospel embraces people of all walks of life, of all cultures, in all lands, of all colours and ethnicities, male and female, old and young, rich and poor, slave and free. There are no boundaries which the gospel cannot cross.
This is good news that is alive and active in our world today and we are a part of it.
Here is both an encouragement and an incentive.
When we perhaps do not see the growth that we would like in our land, we can draw encouragement from the fact that the church is much bigger than we think – it is growing in other places, like China and Africa.
The fact of the fruitfulness of the gospel in our world is an incentive for us to get involve in being missionary disciples wherever we are – to be a part of the progress of the gospel and God’s kingdom in our neighbourhood, our nation, our world.
We are to be active and fruitful participators, not stagnant and barren spectators.
As we come to our final verses this morning we see how Paul concludes his thanksgiving by turning his attention back to the Colossians (v7-8) and underlining their supernatural love for one another.
And as he does so, he mentions Epaphras, one of their own number, who it seems had first brought the gospel to them - and what a commendation from Paul he gets!
He is a dear fellow servant and a faithful minister of Christ.
He is held up as an example and a spur to others to go and do likewise.
God calls his people to minister to others – ministry characterised by :
- Service – Epaphras the ‘servant’ a servant-heartedness – a total commitment to Jesus as Master
- Teamwork – Epaphras the ‘fellow servant’ - not individualism and isolationalism – a total commitment to one another as disciples – serving well together
- Faithfulness – Epaphras the ‘faithful minister’ – a total commitment to the gospel about Jesus as the way, truth and life – the answer to the big and small issues of life.
May we, wherever we are, be fruitful followers of Christ, faithful in service, working together, growing in faith, love, hope, grace and truth, expressing our thanksgiving to God for his calling, equipping and for one another. Amen.
Thou hast given so much to me / Give one thing more, - a grateful heart / Not thankful when it pleaseth me / As if Thy blessings had spare days / But such a heart whose pulse may be Thy praise. (George Herbert)