"Fruit of Hope: Love"

Colossians 1:1-8

Bible Passage

Colossians 1:1-8 (ESV - English Standard Version)

1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

2To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

3We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,

4since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints,

5because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel,

6which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth,

7just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf

8and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

INTRODUCTION

Ephesians vs Colossians

BOTH written while Paul was in prison in Rome

Timothy was with Paul when Colossians was written (Accomplice)

Colossae was a thriving city even at the time of King Xerxes around 500 BC

It is near Laodicea in Modern Day Turkey

Paul never visited Colossae

He only HEARD of their faith

Epaphrus planted that church by way of being born again through Paul's preaching in Ephesus (Paul's 3rd year)

THEMES

Ephesians = Doctrine of Christ (Romans Jr)

Colossians = Majesty of Christ

Ephesians will GROUND you in the faith and your calling because of Christ

Colossians will LIFT you and CALL you into the HEAVENS where Christ is

Paul addresses TWO issues in Colossae:

Rome is NOT your HOPE; Your Hope is NOT in the EMPIRE

Syncretism

The merging together of different religions

Mystery cults

Gnosticism

More than likely, a shaman-like leader had crept into the church

Causing confusion

leading people into fasting that sent people to heaven to "worship the angels before the throne" (2:8,18)

They would wear "Magical Stone Amulets" with the names of angels to protect whomever would wear them.

One read:  "Michael, Gabriel, Ouriel, Raphael, protect the one who wears this...flee O hated one, Solomon pursues you."

TODAY, it would be more like this in the church:

Freemasonry (gnostic cult)

Wearing and using "crystals"

Seeking out psychics

Mediums

New Age Practices

Horoscopes

Manifesting (Law of Attraction)

In Christianese, "Declaring an decreeing"

Definition of Syncretism:  the practice of combining different beliefs and various schools of thought.

THIS is what SYNCRETISM is and we, as the American Church, are somewhat in the same boat as Colossae

TODAY:

We want to see the "Fruit of Hope"

"Hope Reserved"

"Faith Observed"

"Love Served"

Bible Passage

Colossians 1:3-5 (ESV - English Standard Version)

3We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,

4since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints,

5because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel,

1

Hope RESERVED

Bible Passage

Colossians 1:5 (ESV - English Standard Version)

5because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel,

Explanation

"because of the HOPE"

What is hope?

I remember:  "The Book, The Blood, and The Blessed Hope" LOL

Hope is "Expectation"

Expectation of what?

"in the word of truth"

the Gospel

What is the gospel?

The "Good News"

Jesus came and lived the perfect life of loving obedience to the Father we could not live

Died in the place of those who are born again

He became sin for us

We became his righteousness

Resurrected, defeating death and the grave

so that we can have resurrection and live in the Zoe life of God into the ages...

Ascended, physically, into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father as the God-Man FOR us.

Our older brother

The firstborn of all Creation

firstborn rights to all of the inheritance.

Application

Jesus IS the Gospel

Jesus is our Hope

Him and everything He has prepared for us is RESERVED for us where He is.

and our Hope is to be WITH HIM

The Author and Finisher of our faith.

Having a HOPE RESERVED will cause the fruit of FAITH OBSERVED

2

Faith OBSERVED

Bible Passage

Colossians 1:4 (ESV - English Standard Version)

4since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints,

Explanation

When your expectation is steadfast in the ONE who IS HOPE, your FAITH will be OBSERVED.

"since we have HEARD of your faith"

What is faith?

"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."  (Hebrews 11:1)

Faith = persuasion

What are you like when you are persuaded of a thing??

ILL:  If you are persuaded that the Washington Commanders or the Dallas Cowboys are a Super Bowl contender...

You are willing to look foolish EVERY YEAR because you are PERSUADED that they are good when they are NOT.

If you are PERSUADED of a thing, you WILL BE HEARD

It WILL be voiced

It WILL be known

Paul says that "we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, SINCE WE HEARD OF YOUR FAITH"

Application

Is your faith HEARD??

This absolutely doesn't mean that you have to be a LOUD person

This DOES mean that in your conversations, your PERSUASION of WHO JESUS is IS LOUD and CLEAR

How do we grow our FAITH to be more LOUD and CLEAR??

How much EXPECTATION do you put in JESUS vs whatever circumstance you find yourself in??

Is your HOPE in who YOU ARE or in WHO HE IS?

Is your HOPE in what YOU THINK you can do OR is it in what HE CAN DO??

What CAN HE do??

Change hearts from stone to flesh!

With Him NOTHING is impossible...

Where does your EXPECTATION rest?

In YOU and your "greatness" and "know how"?  OR

In HIS Greatness and Know How?

We will ALWAYS have an EXPECTATION for the thing we are PERSUADED of

Problems come when we have our hopes in something that is not WORTH BEING PERSUADED OF...

Some people say:

"I'm persuaded of Who God is and He let me down"

You are only persuaded of the little bit you know of Him

Your persuasion needs to be DEEPENED and WIDENED

You need to KNOW HIM MORE.

NOT merely ABOUT Him, but KNOW HIM

NOT merely believing IN HIM, but BELIEVE HIM

The more you know of WHAT HE SAYS, the more you can BELIEVE HIM

How persuaded are you of Who He is?  Do you BELIEVE GOD?

How persuaded are you of the Bible?  Do you BELIEVE His WORD?

When our Hope is RESERVED in Heaven

Our Faith is OBSERVED on EARTH

When HOPE is RESERVED in Heaven

FAITH is OBSERVED on earth

Then LOVE IS SERVED...from the heart

3

Love is SERVED

Bible Passage

Colossians 1:4-8 (ESV - English Standard Version)

4since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints,

5because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel,

6which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth,

7just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf

8and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

Explanation

"since we heard of...the love that you have for all the saints"

"AGAPE"

"goodwill, benevolence, and willful delight in the object of love"

"Agape love involves: faithfulness, commitment, and an act of the will"

Steadfast love

Since we heard of your faith BECAUSE of the HOPE laid up for you...YOU heard by the word of truth, the GOSPEL

When the gospel truly has come into your life...YOU LOVE... 

You love YAHWEH with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength

You love your neighbor in the same way that you love yourself

You love the SAINTS

"Saints" = the holy ones

You ESPECIALLY love the FAMILY (the holy ones; the sons and daughters of God)

Application

Is your life defined by Gospel love??

When people bring up your name in conversation, is love in their description of you?

Do you love people enough to serve them the gospel?

Born again and not

We ALL need to be reminded of the gospel

The gospel lifts us up from our prideful pity parties

The gospel knocks us off of our arrogant "high horses"

Are you living a life of Gospel infused LOVE?

Love that is infused with the VERY LIFE AND LOVE FROM GOD (ZOE)

Conclusion

Hope RESERVED

What do you put your EXPECTATION in?

Faith OBSERVED

Do you BELIEVE God?

Do you BELIEVE His WORD?

Is your faith LOUD and CLEAR?

LOVE is SERVED

Is your life defined by LOVE?

LOVE that is INFUSED with the very LIFE (ZOE) and LOVE of God?

We need to have ALL our EXPECTATION (hope) in HIM!

Remind yourself of where He has brought you and where He is TAKING your because of the GOSPEL!

We need to BELIEVE God and be so PERSUADED of Him and His WORD that it leaks out LOUD and CLEAR in ALL OF LIFE!

The more you hear His Words, the more you will be persuaded; the more you will BELIEVE Him.

THE FRUIT OF HOPE IS LOVE.

 When you are PERSUADED that you can EXPECT God to be GOOD, HOLY, JUST, LOVE...

...that REAL love for HIM will pour out in REAL love for others

it won't be a duty, it won't FEEL like a RULE...

It will have become your 2nd nature to you