Colossians - Reputation of Faith - 1:1-8

Intro:

Good morning.

I want to start a sermon series this morning that hopefully will be an encouragement to us.

I want to study the book of Colossians, which is an encouraging book.

I don’t know about you, but I can always use a good dose of encouragement. :)

I plan on trying something a little different preaching through this book — I want to preach this series on both Sunday mornings and nights. (Hopefully you can be here on both Sunday morning and nights or you’re going to miss about half of these).

I think this will get us through the sermon series a little quicker instead of letting it drag on for four or five months so I wanted to give this a try.

Let’s begin by briefly introducing the book of Colossians, and then we’ll get started today with Col. 1:1-8 - “A Reputation of Faith.”

Brief Intro to Colossians:

The overarching theme of the epistle to the Colossians is the supremacy of Christ over our lives.

On pages 525 and 526 of the book Know Your Bible, brother Frank Dunn puts the theme this way: “The supreme glory and preeminence of Christ. Christ is the Son of God’s love, the image of God, the creator and sustainer of the universe, the head of the church, the firstborn from the dead, the fulness of God, and the redeemer of the world (1:13-20). Christ is our life. He is all in all.”

Isn’t that such a needed reminder today?

In a world with so many distractions, so many things that would try to pull us away from our devotion to Christ …

Sometimes we just need to SLOOOOW DOOOOOWN … and remember that God is the ruler of our lives, that God is Who we should be pleasing rather than ourselves.

Colossians talks about the importance of putting on the new man ....

Of seeking the things which are above …

Of continuing steadfast in prayer, and walking in wisdom.

These are all important reminders found in the epistle to the Colossians, and the Colossian brethren were for the most part faithful (which lends itself to an encouraging tone of the letter).

There was an element of probably Gnostic false teachers in the area, though, that needed to be confronted, so we will see Paul deal with that when we get to chapter 2.

Let’s go ahead and get into our study of Colossians, looking first this morning at 1:1-8 - “A Reputation of Faith.”

Paul’s Greeting - 1:1-2:

This is a very typical greeting of Paul the apostle, and notice that Timothy is writing with him.

Col. 1:1-2

Colossians 1:1–2 NKJV

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Notice also “to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colosse.”

One of the highlights of our study of this book is that Paul is writing to a majority FAITHFUL group of Christians at this congregation …

Which is encouraging! :)

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Now let’s delve further into …

Colosse’s Reputation of Faith:

The Colossian church had a great reputation.

I think of other congregations in the Bible that had good reputations — Thessalonica (persecuted but faithful), Philadelphia (the church that had an open door of opportunity), Smyrna (the persecuted but faithful congregation), to some extent, Ephesus (which had a reputation for standing for the truth, although Rev. 2 tells us they left their first love) …

And then I think of other congregations who have BAD reputations of strife and division, sin, bad attitudes, etc. — congregations like Corinth (all kinds of problems), Sardis (dead), Thyatira (corrupt), and Laodicea (lukewarm).

And I ask a simple question — Should congregation’s have a GOOD reputation or a BAD one?

Obviously, we hope that congregation’s of the Lord’s church will have a GOOD reputation in their community and throughout the brotherhood.

So now we ask: Does Marietta have a GOOD reputation or a BAD one?

Well, I’m very happy to report that this congregation has a very GOOD reputation …

A reputation of soundness, faithfulness, diligent in our efforts, and a reputation of getting along well together …

… But we’ve got to KEEP it that way, don’t we?!

It’s up to ALL of us to live up to that good reputation!

Let’s see what we can glean from the reputation of the church at Colosse … (Read through all of verses 3-8, then come back through verse by verse).

Col. 1:3-4

Colossians 1:3–4 NKJV

We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints;

Brethren, I’m thankful for you.

I hope you know that.

May this be the attitude of me, may this be the attitude of all of you - “We give thanks to the God and Father ...”

Paul had heard of the congregation at Colosse — their reputation and it was good!

He had also heard of their love of all the saints!

He was thankful for them, and he prayed always for them.

Church, we need to take a look around and be thankful for what we’ve got.

Col. 1:5

Colossians 1:5 NKJV

because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel,

This verse ought to sum up our mindset right here!

We said last side we need to take a look around and be thankful.

Why? (Because we’ve got a great congregation that wants to do right, yes) …

But also because, at the foundational level of Christianity — “Because of the hope which is laid up for (us) in heaven!”

We’ve heard it in the Word of the truth of the Gospel!

We say we believe it! (And I trust that we do!)

So let’s be encouraged and let’s make sure that our attitudes always reflect it — An attitude of HOPE because we know where we’re heading if we remain faithful till the end!

Col. 1:6

Colossians 1:6 NKJV

which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth;

The Word of God was preached unto all the world in the first century!

Colossians 1:23 - a little bit further down says: “If indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.”

So we know that the entire world had been evangelized at one point in human history — The task remains for us to continue to get the job done!

Notice, Paul says the Gospel was “bringing forth fruit!”

That’s what it does!

The seed, according to Luke 8:11, is the Word of God!

Paul planted (1 Cor. 3:6), Apollos watered, but GOD gave the increase!

(And we can see the same take place today).

People plant the seed (which is the Word of God), it germinates in human hearts, people come along and water it …

And then God gives the increase — That’s called GROWTH, and it’s called BRINGING FORTH FRUIT.

Brethren, it is my studied conviction that we must not separate the concept of growth from the concept of evangelism.

When you look at the parable of the sower and the different types of soil (which is a parable about evangelism), Matthew 13:8 says: “But others (seed) fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

That’s called being fruitful, and we need to be bringing other people to Christ, we need to be fruitful.

I don’t think the emphasis is on numbers, but rather are you bringing SOME fruit? (Hence, Jesus says some 100, some 60, some 30).

Paul says that the Gospel was bringing forth fruit. (So let me lovingly challenge us in this regard).

Paul says at the end of verse 6 here - “As it (the Word of truth of the gospel) is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth.”

We know the grace of God in truth via the WORD of truth of the gospel.

Col. 1:7-8

Colossians 1:7–8 NKJV

as you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.

Scholars believe that this Epaphras was likely the preacher who helped establish the congregation at Colosse.

He is mentioned again near the end of this epistle in Colossians 4:12 and evidently was with Paul in Rome at this point - “Epaphras, who is one of you, a bondservant of Christ, greets you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.”

He is also mentioned in Philemon 23 - “Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you.”

(So that tells us Epaphras was evidently also imprisoned with Paul, and it’s also worth noting here that Paul probably wrote Colossians around the same time he wrote Philemon, Ephesians, and Philippians, and its interesting to study some of the connections between all these places and people).

Notice, though, that Epaphras was a faithful minister (something I certainly strive for myself), and he had declared to Paul the Colossians love in the Spirit …

Something I undoubtedly could declare about the church here at Marietta as well. :)

Conclusion:

This has just been a brief introduction to Colossians, really.

As we delve more and more into this book, hopefully there will be more and more encouragement for us.

We have looked at Colosse’s “Reputation of Faith” this morning.

Tonight, Lord willing, we are going to look at the importance of “Walking Worthy of the Lord.”