16.01.11 AM Sermon Christ and the Christian Gospel # 1 The Church of Christ (Col 1:1-14)
Paul - The Greeting he sends (Colossians 1:1-2)
At the beginning of our series looking at Paul’s letter to the Colossians, we come firstly to his opening greetings.
And here we learn how he speaks of himself, how he speaks about the Colossians and how he greets them.
1. Paul – How he speaks of himself(v1)
It is important to realise that the apostle Paul had never visited the church at Colosse.
The church had probably been brought into being by Epaphras (v7) possibly as an offshoot of Paul’s missionary activity in nearby Ephesus. In Acts 19:9-10 we note how as a result of Paul’s daily addresses in the lecture hall of Tyrannus “all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.”
This may explain how the gospel reached Colosse.
You know, the good news about Jesus has a habit of spreading – I wonder where your words and actions reach?
Where do our words and actions as a church reach? God calls his gospel to go into Wollaston and beyond and even internationally!
Now, though the Colossians may not have met Paul personally, they will have certainly known about him, and here they receive a letter from him. But why has he written? Well, Paul found that the Colossians were beginning to embrace a false gospel - they were succumbing to false teaching.
It appears that the true and pure gospel of Jesus Christ, that they had first received was becoming contaminated with local folk religion – much of it Jewish in origin - a folk religion that had these features to it:
- It dealt with the fear which characterised people’s lives. Their lives were precarious and uncertain and they believed that the power of magic would give them some security and control over the supernatural powers which were hostile to them
- The worship of angels was central to this folk religion. People believed that venerating these supernatural beings would afford them protection from harm. Angels were understood to be intermediaries between human beings and God.
- The citizens of Colosse had a special place in their popular religion for the Archangel Michael. He was believed to have once saved their city from destruction by diverting a torrential flood of water from their city.[The Miracle of St. Michael at Colossae - an early 15th-century icon from the Russian North.]
- They boasted they had a spring where people could find healing if they called on God’s name, using the Archangel Michael as mediator.
- Many of these features found an expression among the Jews who lived in Colosse who were also concerned, in typical Jewish fashion, with observing special holy days and practising other ascetic habits.
The Colossians took the local folk religion and added to their faith in Jesus Christ and ended up with a mish-mash of inconsistencies, which fundamentally devalued Christ.
In effect they were saying that Jesus was not adequate to meet their needs, deal with their enemies, and faith in him had to be supplemented by other religious practices.
Their supposedly developing faith was not an improvement on what they had in Christ alone, but a perversion of it – and in reality it was no gospel at all – for Christ was rendered an inadequate Saviour – one who needed topping up!
You know, the church is always being tempted to add to or take away from the pure gospel of Christ.
May we guard ourselves against any watering down or contamination of the gospel, by deepening our study of and love for and obedience to the scriptures.
Paul needed to correct the Colossians false understanding of the gospel, primarily by teaching them again about the Lord Jesus Christ.
As we as a church, on Sundays and in small groups, go through this letter we shall be confronted again with the Lord Jesus.
But for Paul to do so, firstly he needed to remind them of his authority to do so.
He makes it clear that he doesn’t write to them as a private individual who is simply sharing his opinion.
Rather he is doing so as “an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God”.
He was one who had encountered the risen Christ on that road to Damascus.
He had received a commission from Christ Jesus himself to plant and establish the church. (Acts 9:1-19)
He was in this role by “the will of God”.
It was not a human committee that put him forwards as spokesman.
It was not a church council that elected him to the position. His was an unmistakably divine appointment.
When he writes to the Galatians, he makes the same point even more forcefully, since they are in even greater danger of selling out to a false gospel. (Gal 1:11-12)
The idea of someone having spiritual authority is a challenging notion to us in our society.
We prefer opinions, different viewpoints, alternative perspectives, individual experiences.
Authority today, in any sense, is not popular – We tend to treat those in authority with contempt.
And the church is not immune – it and our mission suffers as a result.
Paul wants to set forth the truth plainly.
Truth, if handled competently and correctly by those in authority, sets people free.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is not opinion, it is not perspective, it is not an alternative – it is the truth – and it brings freedom to those who hear and obey.
We learn from this letter that it is essential that we discern truth from error, true teachers from false ones.
2. Paul - How he speaks of the Colossians
For a church which is about to stray off course he addresses them with remarkable respect.
It has become in our day quite popular to criticise and put down, and churches and Christians are not immune.
Criticising the church is common, indeed a popular pastime, in our day.
We see the church and its people lampooned in the media, on the TV.
And even within church, it is easy to be impatient with ‘church’ and to only see its faults.
I would warn us to be on our guard regarding our attitudes and words about ‘church’.
Though the church is not perfect, Christ loved the church and died for her.
We must also learn to love the church and follow in Christ’s example.
The church in Colosse was far from perfect, and was in great danger, yet Paul speaks with spiritual courtesy.
Firstlya. He speaks of their spiritual character
They are holy and faithful.
In spite of their imperfections and failings, Paul points out God’s viewpoint; he sees them as (a.) holy - they are set apart for him. This is not a holiness that they have achieved – rather, they have been graciously granted holiness through Christ – marked by him and for him – dedicated to him and for his service.
In being holy, they are Christ’s – they are his treasure – precious to him.
We need to know for ourselves, that if we have committed our lives to Christ, then we are set apart from him and his use – we are holy people – attributed with Christ’s holiness, his righteousness – not a saintliness that we have created for and from ourselves.
Paul also describes the Colossian church as (b.) faithful – they are firmly committed believers, seeking to be loyal, even if they are misguided or misled about many things and not as secure in their understanding of the faith as they might think.
May we be a people who are faithful in our life together – let us grow in our devotion to Christ, in our fellowship with one another, in our service in this world.
Are you faithful in your faith in Christ? Or are you trying to have one foot in him and one in the world?
Are you luke-warm concerning him and the things of him?
Are you following him when it’s easy, but abandoning him when it is tough?
Can you be found around Jesus when all is well, but railing against him when all is not how you would like it, or when makes demands of you?
Secondlyb. He speaks of their location both spiritual and geographical.
Geographically they live in Colosee (one hundred miles east of Ephesus in the Lycus Valley).
A town set in a mountainous and beautiful area, yet a town that had seen better days.
The main trade artery which used to run through it had been diverted elsewhere, causing Colosse to decline in wealth and significance - It had been overtaken in importance by nearby Laodicea and Hierapolis.
The people who lived there were Jews and gentiles, and mostly earned their living by growing crops, farming cheep and selling and dying wool. These were not Oxbridge theologians – they were ordinary believers.
And what Paul had to say to them would make a difference as they ploughed their fields, tended their sheep, and went to market – for his teaching was of spiritual and practical value.
And the first thing he wants to make clear to them is that though geographically they live in declining Colosse, spiritually they live in Christ.
You see, the church had been more influenced and conditioned by what they’d picked up from their surroundings in Colosse, with its local folk religion, than by Christ.
Paul reminds them that their real environment, the one that should have the most formative influence upon them, is Christ – they are first and foremost to be found in Christ.
Christ should be the most significant influence in their lives.
Christians, you see, are called to live in two locations at the same time.
We live in this world, but we are also to be found in Christ.
When we are saved, we remain in this world, but are not to be of this world – and bend by its influence upon us.
Think of it this way : We may travel in an aircraft and cruise at 35,000 feet. We are both in the aircraft and in the air at 35,000 feet. However, what really matters is that we remain in the aircraft. Else we shall feel the effects of being at 35,000 feet. Frozen, no oxygen and very little air pressure. Thankfully the aircraft in which we travel protects us from the effects of being in the air. It is being in the aircraft that matters most.
Christians are to remain in Christ, he is the sphere in which we live even as we go about our daily lives in Wollaston, or wherever we reside and work and play.
To be in Christ means that we owe our lives to him, that he is our true life – that we would have no life that means anything without or apart from him.
To be ‘in Christ’ means to be in a living, dynamic, real relationship with him, to enjoy intimate companionship with him on this journey through this world - to allow him to shape us and sustain us in every way, big and small.
So crucial is this notion to be ‘in Christ’ that Paul uses this phrase eleven times in his letter.
May we know what it is to be ‘in Christ’ and not be shaped by the world’s ways upon us – by our society’s materialism and consumerism, by its apathy towards the plight of the poor and marginalised in our world, by its chasing after fame and recognition and celebrity, by its impatience and intolerance, by its rejection of true authority and eager embracing of latest fads and fashions. Being found in Christ Jesus is what matters.
3. Paul – How he greets the Colossians
He greets them with Grace and Peace.
a. Graceis where he both begins and ends his letter. (4:18)
Grace speaks about God’s favour towards men and women when they don’t deserve it.
Grace captures what God has done for us in Christ, (Roms 3:23-24) “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
Those in Christ are in God’s good grace.
But Grace in this world, is a precious resource – it is so often hard to come by.
Philip Yancey points out how hard it is to find grace in our world:
“From nursery school onwards we are taught how to succeed in the world of ungrace. The early bird get the worm. No pain, no gain. There I no such thing as a free lunch. Demand your rights. Get what you pay for. I know these rules well because I live by them, I work for what I earn; I like to win; I insist on my rights; I want people to get what they deserve – nothing more, nothing less.”
Grace is to be found in church - the church is a community where grace should freely flow – because it is a community that is called into existence by grace. And there is nowhere where God’s grace and our grace shown to one another should not be able to flow – “Grace, like water, flows to the lowest part.”
What better way to greet people than with grace? Underserved love and favour.
In a way, grace is really all that we have to offer – the grace that God has given to us – we are to give to others.
Gordon MacDonald says, “The world can do almost anything as well or better than the church. You don’t have to be a Christian to build houses, to feed the hungry or heal the sick. There is only one thing the world cannot do. It cannot offer grace.”
So, like the apostle Paul let us boast about grace, live by grace, and greet with grace.
Paul also offers b. Peace – again one of the great and deep words of our faith.
He is not alluding to the absence of conflict, but a deep harmony between peoples, that stems from a deep harmony between ourselves and God.
Peace, like Grace, begins with God – he made peace with us first – through the sending of his Son Jesus.
Peace is the greatest objective of Grace. Grace is shown and Peace results.
The Colossians lacked the full measure of Grace and Peace, as Paul would later point out to them.
They needed more grace and more peace than they had been capable of receiving, because they had begun to let go of Jesus – more grace and peace would come to them through a deeper understanding of and trusting in Jesus.
May we be a church that grows in God’s good grace, that knows profound peace, that discovers more what it is to be ‘in Christ’ as we live out a life of holiness and faithfulness in this world and as we hold on to and hold out the pure gospel that is found only through the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.