Untitled Sermon

The Passage

Colossians 1:21-23: 21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

The Context and the Audience

The passage starts with a direct address to the audience, and you! who is the you in the context? who was Paul addressing to directly? The Colossians! Who are they and why was Paul writing to them?

No personal relationship between Paul and Colossian Christians. According to chapter 1:7, we can tell Paul and the Colossians had Epaphras in common, who served as a co-worker and servant of the truth of Gospel among the Colossians. And Paul has never met them in person。

The Colossians were also Christians, who have heard of the gospel from Epaphras and who have understood the wonderful truth from God and demonstrated their faith in their love towards other God’s people. so when Paul addressed them, he recognized and called them as Holy and faithful brothers. So we know that they did not leave their faith.

Colossians were being influenced by various different teachings of different resources. According to Chapter 2, we can see the reason why Paul is writing to them. Because the Colossians were being influenced by some false teachings and being led astray in their effort to add to their piety and to be more assured with their salvation.

The problem Paul was addressing. so we can see this was the human spiritual condition Paul was trying to address. The Colossians, in their effort to seek assurance of their salvation, they unintentionally overlooked who Jesus is and what Jesus did for them, they questioned unconsciously the fullness and completeness of Jesus’ salvation for humanity.

The prayer of Paul for Colossians. That is why Paul started Colossians by praying for them to be filled with all knowledge of God’s will, spiritual wisdom and understanding in 1:9, and he started the central idea of the letter right after the prayer talking about who Jesus is, what his relationship is with God the Father and the creation, and what he did and the significance of what he did for creation.

Establishing relational credibility between Paul and his audience. With the relational hurdle in mind, Paul, in his own way he established his fellowship with Colossians by praying for them. He had not even met them in person, he had had concerns for them, he had prayed for them and when he wrote to them, from the prayers he had for them, he had known them spiritually. from that we know, our Christian fellowships are inherently spiritual. Apart from that, Paul also tried to establish his credibility by reminding them He was working for them as well. He was ministering the same gospel that had given their hope and faith. And He is made minister of the gospel by Jesus Christ. The same gospel he was ministering among different group of people were also producing the same fruits as theirs.

How did Paul try to help Colossians to be re-anchored in the faith of Jesus Christ?

Those were the people and the human and spiritual condition he was trying to minister. Remember that Colossians are not baby Christians, they had the confident hope from hearing the truth of the Gospel, and they have the faith and the good work, Paul recognized the Holy Spirit’s work among them and called them as saints and holy, and faithful. But they drifted because they overlooked who Jesus is and what Jesus did meant for them. They looked away. They looked for different things for peace and assurance.

With those conditions of the Colossians in mind, Paul reminded them who they were and who they are before God because of What Jesus has done for them. He wanted to encourage them and re-establish them in the assurance and the confident hope they had, so they don’t drift away from their faith in Christ. How did Paul try to do that?

First, Paul reminded who they once were, The pain of the human existence. Paul said, you, you were once alienated, you were once hostile in mind, doing evil deeds. Alienated means you got disconnected, separated, become distant from someone you were connected and close to.

Even here being alienated is a passive voice, it doesn’t mean that human beings are passively involved in the process of being more and more alienated. On the contrary, we are quite active in the process. Humans did not get alienated by God. It is humans who actively and consciously avoiding and ignoring God’s presence, revelation and voice that got us further and further from God, It is a slippery slop.

It reminds me of the story of Abel and Cain. Murder happened in the first generation of the human descendants soon after they were removed from God’s direct presence, and soon Cain drifted further and further away from God’s presence. By the time of Lamech, the son of Cain,Bible recorded that he shamelessly claimed that he killed multiple men for wounding him and striking him, the violence seemed prevalent already.

Once we are alienated from God, the hostility and evil grow in an ascending spiral. Hearts are hardened, minds are more confused, soon people say that there was no God. In all the evilness and hostility, humanity groan in desperation, in darkness with no hope. They are traped in their own making. What about us once? Do you see a way out of the messy life and reality other than Jesus? I don’t think so. so is the same situation for Colossians. That is why once they heard of Jesus, heard of the truth of the gospel and they saw and understood God’s wonderful truth and they were confident of their hope in heaven reserved for them.

Paul Reminded them of who Jesus is and what He did for us. So Paul brought their attention to their saving grace from Jesus again, only this time, Paul using his talent of speech made the radiance, glory, and sovereign of Jesus clear and prominent, there is no way that any Colossians could overlook that.

Jesus in all his divinity decided to obey God’s will and God’s plan, He willingly went on the Cross, died a cruel death, and gave up his life to pay for the price of our sins while humanity was still his enemy. God’s righteousness was fulfilled, and God the Father in heaven reconciled everything in heaven and on earth to himself.

Things changed right away after Jesus fulfilled God’s plan. we are reconciled to God’s presence in peace, not in wrath anymore; God does not judge us the way we deserve anymore, which is eternal death, instead we are presented to God as holy, blameless, and above reproach. We don't have to fear of judgement of our existence from our creator and our King of kings, we are spared of all of our sins and punishments, our conscience are cleared, we can come safely to God our creator to ask for forgiveness and knowing we are forgiven, we have redemption from Jesus Christ. oh, such a relief of our soul and our conscience. we don’t have to harbor our guilt and shame on our soul! We are safe, we are forgiven, we are made right and peace before God, the creator, the righteous judge, the sovereign.

That was God’s plan all along, and he is one who executed it for our salvation. so far, in our salvation, we did not need to do anything, we just need to recognize our sorry and miserable state humbly, recognize God’s wonderful grace and gratefully accept it.

Before anything else, that is the assurance of our faith, that is where our security of our faith comes from, it is God the father who plan our salvation, and God the Son Jesus Christ’s obedience who has fulfilled it for us. Jesus Christ completed it for us! We don’t need to go anywhere else for assurance of faith. we are saved by Jesus Christ alone.

So what does it mean for them?

should we just do nothing and just accept the grace of Grace, or go on living our usual old life? that is not what Paul said. Paul said if you indeed continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not drift away from the hope the gospel you have heard! Paul said if! if you do this, you will have the assurance of your salvation! Some people hear this, their minds instantly scared, what if I could not? Will I lose my salvation? I don’t have enough time to tackle that challenging theological question, nor I intend to. But I know for me, I want to participate actively in knowing God and Jesus more and more, I want to do the hard work so I could have assurance knowing that I have done all I can, and I enjoy the fruits of the handwork of doing my best to remain stable and steadfast in my faith! and God helps us and blesses our hard work in stay secure in our faith.

Paul said, continue in the faith, to stay stable and not drift away from the hope. that is the least we can do! that is also all we can do. Making an effort to stay in the faith we receive is not supposed to be a burden for our soul or our whole self, it is supposed to be enjoyable and joyful for our soul to be connected to our savior, our creator, the peace of our existence.