Life in Christ

Fruit produced from the Gospel...

Today, we’re starting a new series from the book of Colossians.

Before we get started, I’d like to share for a little bit a little about of what the book is about and to whom it is written.

The book of Colossians was written to believers in Colossae. Colossae is located in modern day Turkey. It is near to Laodicea and Hieropolis, and was located on the Lycus River.

It was written by Paul the apostle, but Paul had actually never been there. He was in prison in Rome while he wrote this book awaiting trial for believing that God raised Jesus from the dead.

Just as at any time in history, it is important to contend for the faith, Paul was preaching that Jesus Christ is supreme.

Many teach that Jesus was a good moral teacher, but Paul preached that Jesus

Colossians 2:9 NKJV

For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;

In other words, Jesus was fully God and fully man.

Some taught that salvation comes through knowledge. Others taught that our physical bodies are evil, and thus Jesus may have appeared to be human but it wasn’t possible, thus throwing into question the cross. (LANTC)

“…Paul wrote a letter to the church, clarifying what Jesus did for us and what He does through us.” (Walk Through the Bible)

Let’s read

Colossians 1:1–8 NIV

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

Paul and apostle of Christ Jesus

Apostle means “sent one.” (Missler)

Paul “a delegate, an ambassador of the Gospel, officially a commissioner of Jesus Christ.”

Jesus called Paul to share the Gospel, that Jesus Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead.

When we think of apostles in the New Testament, we think of the disciples whom Jesus hand picked. Judas Iscariot was disqualified, but Matthias was chosen in Acts 1…but God chose Paul.

Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.

It was God’s desire that Paul or Saul of Tarsus was one sent to preach the gospel, to go and make disciples, followers of Jesus Christ. This was according to the will of God.

I believe that God has called each one of us to go. He has called each one of us to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to all nations.

How do I know this?

Matthew 28:18–20 NIV

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

God’s will for us is to preach the gospel by living the Gospel and by proclaiming that Jesus Christ is Lord.

But Pastor Dave, I don’t want to turn people off.

But Pastor, I don’t want to offend anybody.

Proverbs 29:25 NIV

Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.

Do you think that Paul ever encountered fear? Do you think that he was ever discouraged? Do think that everybody that he talked to believed?

In Ephesians 6, Paul asked for people to pray for him.

Ephesians 6:18–20 NLT

Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. And pray for me, too. Ask God to give me the right words so I can boldly explain God’s mysterious plan that the Good News is for Jews and Gentiles alike. I am in chains now, still preaching this message as God’s ambassador. So pray that I will keep on speaking boldly for him, as I should.

Paul and Timothy wrote to the saints, holy people and to the faithful brothers and sisters, adelphoi.

Sometimes, we don’t feel like saints. We don’t feel worthy, but you have been made worthy by the blood of Jesus.

1 Peter 2:9–10 NIV

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Grace and peace to you from God the Father...

Grace, God’s unmerited favour. God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense.

May God the Father empower you to walk worthy of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Peace

Romans 5:1 NIV

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

The OT word for peace was Shalom. It was a sense of wholeness, prosperity, health.

3 John 2 NKJV

Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.

To give a little context, Paul was writing from Rome, which was about 1600 Kilometers away from Colossae. Paul had heard about them from Epaphras, but had never been to the church.

He gave thanks to God the Father and Jesus Christ when he prayed for them.

We, too, need to give thanks to God for believers in Christ, even if we have never met them and even if we may never meet them.

Paul gave

Two reasons that he gave thanks...

1. We have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus

2. Your love your love for all of God’s people

Let’s look at their faith...

Their faith was in Christ. It was based upon the person of Christ.

We can put our in no one or nothing but Christ crucified, buried, raised from the dead, and seated at the right hand of God the Father.

There was heresy going around that knowledge was more important than faith.

As we get into Colossians, we’ll see that they were being pulled in two directions… The Jews wanted them to follow all the demands of the Law, while others were teaching that knowledge was king.

Do you ever feel pulled in different directions as to what you should believe? Have you ever been made to feel like you just don’t measure up? You just need to do more.

Paul said in

1 Corinthians 8:1–3 (NIV)

...knowledge puffs up while love builds up.

Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know.

But whoever loves God is known by God.

We must have faith in Christ alone, and stand on God’s word which is truth.

God’s word needs to be the standard for our belief, not our feelings, not people’s teaching. Prophecy is not equal to Scripture, but must come into line with what Scripture teaches.

2. They loved God’s people.

John 15:12–13 NIV

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

God calls us to love each other with self-sacrificial love.

1 Corinthians 13:4–13 NIV

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

We love because Jesus first loved us.

Your and love spring from the hope that you have that is stored in heaven for you.

Our hope is in the gospel. Our hope is in the resurrection from the dead. Our hope is in Christ and that He will come again.

1 Thessalonians 4:16–18 NIV

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

The Gospel bears fruit...

Just as when you plant seeds in the ground, you expect that they will germinate, and grow, and produce a crop. The gospel produces fruit wherever it goes.

Colossians 1:6 (NIV)

...In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace.

Changed lives are the evidence of the gospel.

Has there been a change in your life since you believed? There should be.

Does it all happen at once? When we believe, we are justified, made right before God,

but as we submit and surrender each and every day of our lives to the LORD and His will, we are made holy through the shed blood of Jesus.

Growth happens in two ways...

It happens in us as we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Colossians 2:6–7 NIV

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Personally we become more like Jesus as we are discipled, and because we as Christians are becoming more like Jesus, we produce fruit.

John 15:16 NIV

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.

When we ask anything in Jesus’ name, it’s not to bring praise or glory or to draw attention to us, it’s to bring people to Christ.

Jesus said that “I be lifted up, I would draw all people to Me.”.

I want you to ask the question,

“What can I do?”

Colossians 1:7–8 NIV

You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

Each of us need to look for opportunities to make disciples, to be fruitful.

Epaphras started a church. He didn’t start with a building, but he started in a home…probably Philemon’s.

I’m not asking you to start a home group unless God is calling you to do this, but ask God what He wants and be found doing his work.

I shared a story at the Lodge this week about Henry Blackaby and how he had tried to start a Bible Study, and then God spoke to him.

So...

“One Sunday Pastor Blackaby pulled the students together and said, “This week I want you to go to the campus and watch to see where God is working and join him.” They asked him to explain. God had impressed upon his heart these two scriptures:

Romans 3:10-11 As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous—not even one. 11 No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God.

John 6:44 For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me...

He went on to explain, “According to these passages, no one is going to seek God on his own initiative. No one will ask after spiritual matters unless God is at work in their life. When you see someone seeking God or asking about spiritual matters, you are seeing God at work. That is something only God does in a life.” He told his students, “If someone starts asking you spiritual questions, whatever else you have planned, don’t do it. Cancel what you are doing. Go with that individual and look to see what God is doing there.”

That week their students went out to see where God was at work on the campus and to join him. On Wednesday one of the girls reported, “Pastor, a girl who has been in classes with me for two years came to me after class today. She said, ‘I think you might be a Christian. I need to talk to you.’ I remembered what you said. I had a class, but I missed it. We went to the cafeteria to talk. She said, ‘11 of us girls in the dorm have been studying the Bible, and none of us are Christians. Do you know somebody who can lead us in a Bible study?’” As a result of that contact, they started three Bible study groups in the women’s dorms and two in the men’s dorm. For almost 2 years they tried to do something for God and failed. For three days they went looking to see where God was working and joined him. What a difference that made! Over the following years, many students trusted Christ as saviour and Lord...” (Experiencing God, SC)

Let’s look around and see what God is doing, and join Him.

He won’t disappoint.

Let’s pray!