The Joy of the Redeemed

Dismiss the children if you haven’t already

GREETINGS

Good morning! As we continue in our worship through the preaching of God’s Word, please grab your Bibles…we will be in Colossians 1 today.

SAY SOMETHING TO GREET

We are in Advent season and during Advent, as most of you know, we celebrate the coming of Jesus. Not just His first coming, when He became a man entering this world through a virgin as a baby … but we also celebrate His second coming, still as a man … He will come back again in glory and power, and we will be with Him.

We celebrate a very glorious thing when we celebrate Advent. Ryan spoke about our hope in the coming Messiah. Jason spoke about the peace He brings; not just a deliverance from sin but a relationship in which we are reconciled with God. And today I will be talking about “Joy”. In Christ, because we have hope … because we have peace … we can have joy.

If you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ today, you have been redeemed … He has purchased you to be His own. No longer in sin and darkness, but now in His kingdom. And this is great joy for His people. The title of our sermon today is “The Joy of the Redeemed : Thanksgiving Over Redemption in Christ” because the Christ whom we celebrate brings much joy to us!

Before we launch into this, would you please join me in prayer.

PRAY

Introduction

I remember going to a wedding where just about everything went wrong. It hit a high point when we are at the reception, which was just steps away from the ceremony, and the caterer forgot to make food for this wedding. Vangie and I along with another couple drove to the nearest grocery store and bought as much ready made food as possible. As chaotic as that was, the bride and groom were unfazed by it all. In that moment of chaos, they were celebrating each other and nothing was going to rob them of that joy.

It is said that Paul wrote the letter of Colossians from prison, and yet you find him in this passage expressing so much joy that it almost seems like he’s not in prison. “We” in verse 3 referring to Timothy and himself, he says, “We always thank God.” To which he says again in verse 11 that he “[gives] thanks to the Father.” This is a person in prison who is thankful to God through and through because in verse 13, God the Father had done a great thing. And just what is that thing…

Colossians 1:13 ESV

13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,

Colossians 1:14 ESV

14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

In Christ we have been redeemed, we have been purchased so to speak. Redemption is God lawfully, legally, and fully paying the price of our salvation … the ransom payment as some would call it. It was costly. It cost the blood of His Son. And by that redemption the Father has transferred us to be part of Christ’s kingdom.

Noooow … why would this be joy for Paul even from prison? And why would he even care to have joy over your redemption, not just his own?

Thinking about Paul a little bit more here … do you remember back in Acts 8 where we saw a different Paul. Back then his name was Saul. He was the main instrument for persecuting the church. In fact in Acts 8:3 it says that “Saul was ravaging the church.” And then when you get to Acts 9 he gets on his high horse so to speak, and on the road to Damascus he met somebody didn’t He!? It was on that road that He encountered Jesus and his life was changed forevermore.

The instrument of persecution became the very instrument that God would use to spread the gospel throughout the world.

Why is redemption a joy for Paul even from prison? Because he doesn’t deserve it. He doesn’t deserve salvation and he knows it. There is nothing he could ever do to earn God’s favor, to undo the destruction of sin in his life, and to escape hell. But God in Christ had saved Him. He’s been redeemed you see! A dungy prison like the one he perhaps finds himself in can’t take away that joy.

And then why is their redemption [the Colossian’s redemption] a joy for Paul even from prison? Not just his redemption, but their redemption. Even though he’s in prison, the gospel is not in prison. In another instance, another imprisonment, when Paul was in house arrest, in fact his last one before he was to be executed, Paul refers to his imprisonment as being…

2 Timothy 2:9 ESV

9 for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound!

Their redemption is a joy to Paul from prison because once upon a time Paul met Jesus who was not just the Savior … but his Savior which sparks the love for the Savior’s saving work. Paul, once the persecutor of the faith, is now the champion of the faith … the cheerleader of your faith. Redemption is a joy anytime he hears of it. Whether it be his redemption or yours.

Christmas joy has deeper meaning when you take “Redemption” into account.

I. Redemption is a Joy because it brings Salvation (vs. 3-8)

Colossians 1:3–8 ESV

3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 which 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, 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf 8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

A couple weeks ago, Pastor Ryan’s son Liam came to Christ and got baptized. When he shared his conversion to those in the church, they had tear filled joy on their faces. His salvation was joy to them.

In this text, Paul is thankful. “We give thanks to God.” It’s not just a Paul thing. Timothy shared in this too. It’s a redeemed thing. The redeemed will rejoice in the redeemed. Salvation is cause for great joy for saved people. This word for ‘thanks’ means to express joy.

This Christmas, what is your joy? Is it the gift you’re going to get under the Christmas tree? Is it the meal you’re going to eat? Is it the get togethers? If that is your joy, then that’s great. I think that’s good. But dear Christian, can I tell you something, and don’t get me wrong when I say this … as good as those things are, the world has that joy too.

The joy that Paul is expressing here is “other”. It is a joy distinct from the world. It is the joy, that you Christian have because of Christ.

How so?

A. It is a Joy Over Their Faith (v. 4a)

JUST SHOW VERSE

Colossians 1:4a (ESV)

4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus…

The first thing that Paul mentions there is faith, which is the root of salvation for apart from faith there can be no true salvation. Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith…,” outside of faith there is no salvation. But here’s the thing, faith has no intrinsic value in of itself.

In the 80’s there was a song called “Faith” in which the chorus chanted over and over again “I gotta have faith, I gotta have faith, because I gotta have faith, faith, faith, I gotta have faith, faith, faith.” I’m sorry, but that actually does nothing for you. Faith can only mean something based on the object it is connecting to. In that song it doesn’t seem to be connecting to anything except to faith itself. The thing to note here in Colossians is that the object of their faith is Christ Jesus. It’s not merely “you gotta have faith.” Jesus Himself said in John 8:24, “I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am He you will die in your sins.” Jesus is saying that if you are to live, you must have faith in Him.

Salvation does not come by having faith for the sake of faith or having faith in any other thing devoid of complete trust in Christ. If you are to be saved, you are to believe in Jesus Christ. And Paul says I’ve heard about you Colossians, that your faith is in Christ Jesus…and so I THANK GOD. Despite the false teachings that are creeping in your church swirling around in your region, dear Colossians, YOUR FAITH IS IN CHRIST. That word for faith means to wholly lean on. It is not a dead faith because it’s in Christ, but neither is it a said faith because of what we see next.

B. It is a Joy Over Their Love (v. 4b)

Colossians 1:4b (ESV)

4 since we heard of … the love that you have for all the saints,

The second thing that Paul mentions there is love; Paul heard of the love they have for all the saints. Whereas faith is the root of salvation, love is the fruit of salvation. In the Bible, loving God is clearly seen in one’s love for their neighbor, especially towards another believer. Jesus says, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35) You can talk all the spiritual lingo you want, be well versed in all things Bible, and have the sharpest and clearest theology in all of Hawaii, but if you don’t love the church then all you have is a said faith which looks more like a dead faith than it does a real faith. Faith, the root of salvation, will produce love, the fruit of salvation.

It’s in the church that God has designed His love to be manifested in the world. That’s why this is the mark by which the world will know you are His—by your love for each other.

Think for a moment about the church, especially this church at Colossae. This was a church that was geographically located in the main north-south and east-west trade routes making it a very important commercial route, it connected Ephesus in the west to Persia in the east and it was called the ‘Royal Road.’ This accounts for a mix of people in this city, some of which became Christians and then part of this church. In a worldly sense, how unlovely would some of these people have been to each other!?

I remember going to a church in Chicago during one of my business trips. I flew in early just so I could get a chance to visit this church that I grew up reading about when I was younger…the famous church pastored by D.L. Moody in 1860 to the end of the century and by Harry A Ironside in 1930…the church being Moody Church of Chicago. When I visited that church, I saw something greater than the likes of Moody and Ironside. Upon entry, I remember reading this inscription, “…where rich and poor alike are ever welcome…” And in the service, there were scattered throughout the church, from what my naked eye could only surmise as homeless people worshipping God along with a lot of well-dressed people. And during the service they were greeting each other and embracing each other even as they were singing to God together. “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35) What a sight to see! How it must have been for the Colossian church, made up of vastly different people, to still have a love for one another. The reason for this is because these are people with hope. That is the third thing about God’s grace that Paul is celebrating—the hope of eternal life.

C. It is a Joy Over Their Hope (vs. 5-8)

The reason for the gratitude in verse 3 is the hope in verse 5. “We always thank God…because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.” What directly prompts the joy in verses 5-8 is the hope.

In Ephesians 2 Paul described what it means to not have a relationship with God, to not have salvation, not know Christ and not be a Christian. He says that they are those “having no hope and without God in the world.” The absence of hope is the epitome of lostness.

So you see, he’s not expressing a joy that the world shares in. It’s a distinct joy.

To be separate from Christ is to not have the hope of heaven. It doesn’t enjoy God now and will not enjoy God forever; hope is the joy of salvation. It is the third thing here regarding God’s grace because Paul wants us to understand that the Colossians’ living faith, the root and fruit of our salvation, is due to their hope. It’s what prompts them to be the kind of people that Paul has been hearing about.

As Paul keeps going here, he points out that …

II. Redemption is Joy because it Brings New Life (v. 9-14)

I was at the gun range on Friday and a guy was on the phone. I could only imagine what the person was saying on the other side. This guy had cases of guns and ammo in the back of his truck. He lead the advanced students in SWAT-like shooting exercises. I imagined that the person on the other side of the phone saying something to the effect, “Why are you at the gun range so much?” OR “Why are you so passionate about that stuff?” Because on the other side of the conversation, the side that I could hear, this guy enthusiastically said, “Because this ain’t a hobby; this is a lifestyle baby!”

Our joy in Christ is not just some abstract “root, fruit and joy of salvation.” Our salvation is a NEW life in Christ that is a lifestyle of worship … not a hobby. You know it’s a life because you belong to a new kingdom in verse 13, “the kingdom of His beloved Son”, which if you track back to verse 10 will affect the way you live, “walk[ing] in a manner worthy of the Lord.” Life…not a hobby!

That’s what Paul is trying to get at. The prayer that He eludes to in verse 3, is a constant prayer in verse 9, “we have not ceased to pray for you.” The goal of this prayer in verse 10 is worship. He wants them “to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him.” The “walk” is the living out your new life in Christ.

In the next few verses, we see that Paul’s prayer for the wisdom of God is for the purpose of walking with God. Because the way you live is supposed to flow out of the truth you know, and as we’ll see it’s because of the person you know, being Christ.

This distinct joy from the world is further developed as Paul also talks about their walk, their new life in Christ. He says…

1. It is Joy that Anticipates a Fruitful Walk

Colossians 1:10 ESV

10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

Bearing fruit and increasing knowledge is in the present tense because this takes place throughout the span of your life. Every situation you go through is an opportunity to please God. You should never see yourself as having arrived. There are more good things to do and more fruit to bear and so much more about God to learn.

A few years ago, the man who led me to Christ passed away, Ron Espiritu. I was speaking with one of his pastors who shared with me how from the hospital, a week prior to his passing, Ron told him he was ready to do more. Little did anyone know, he was saying this from his death bed. I was so thankful to hear that report because Ron and I would always talk about living for the Lord until our dying day…and he did that. You know what it means to bear fruit in every good work? It means to be faithful in living for Him and serving Him ‘til our dying day.

You see the present tense of those words mean that if you’re going to be fruitful, you have to be faithful. Don’t we want fruit like that? Don’t we want to abound in good works!? Don’t we want to go all out for God in this life!? Don’t we want to know Him much more and much better!? This is how we please God. It’s not trying to earn a badge on our coat … it is simply an outflow of our joy in Christ.

My strength will fail me, but His grace holds me up! Which is why…

2. It is Joy that Anticipates a Powerful Walk

Colossians 1:11 ESV

11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy;

You cannot please God in your own strength; it’s according to His glorious might. Not your might…His might. Your might may succeed, but not all the time. It’s only in God’s might that Paul can say “for all.” Strengthened for all endurance.

What’s it going to take to endure EVERYTHING? God’s might! God’s strength! For each and every situation requiring you to endure and bear through, the only thing adequate to strengthen you ALL THE TIME is the strength according to His glorious might.

Think about the glorious might of God’s strength for a moment and you quickly see why Paul says depend on that and nothing else.

God created the universe in 6 days.

God flooded the entire world as a judgment, yet He spared one family.

God split the Red Sea to deliver Israel out of bondage from Egypt.

God protected Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace.

Jesus fed the 5,000 with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish and then it says in Matthew 14:20, “they all ate and were satisfied.”

God raised Jesus from the dead.

I could share more, but I think you get the point. The strength that it takes to live for God comes from God. You don’t do this on your own strength…you’re going to fail…maybe not immediately, but you will fail none-the-less. If the power and might is at your disposal, why would you depend on your own strength!

The way you do this is the way Paul does this. Here he’s found praying. The things that this church requires of me, I can’t do in my own strength. I’m constantly asking God for strength. The things that this church requires of you, and the things in life you currently have to endure, you can’t do either in your own strength. We need to be praying don’t we.

Lastly…

3. It is Joy that Anticipates a Joyful Walk

Colossians 1:12–14 ESV

12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

He has qualified you…you were very unqualified. You’re not supposed to go to heaven and have eternal life. But because of the Father’s love in the sending of His Son through a genuine faith in Him, you’re qualified.

And don’t miss that point, He qualified you, you didn’t qualify yourself. It says He has delivered us from the domain of darkness. He has transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son. He, the Father, is responsible for admitting His people into His kingdom. Shouldn’t that strike joy? And shouldn’t that lead to gratitude?

There’s a story that Kent Hughes shares of a life saving team from Northwestern University. They assisted passengers on Lake Michigan boats. He says, “On September 8, 1860, the Lady Elgin floundered near the campus, and a ministerial student named Edward Spencer personally rescued seventeen people. The exposure from that episode permanently damaged his health, and he was unable to continue preparation for the ministry. Some years later when he died, it was noted that not one of the seventeen people he had saved ever came to thank him. Isn’t that sad? How much sadder it is for someone to say they’re a Christian and never thank God for it … because to be a Christian is to be rescued from eternal destruction.

What does the text say? “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” If you know Him, aren’t you glad He saved you?

Conclusion

Our joy in Christ is a transcendent kind of joy. Salvation and new life in Christ is ours to enjoy because Jesus came. Church, you’ve been redeemed. Yooou are His … and Hiiiis joy is yours if you know Him this morning.

So, just one application before we pray. Pray for each other this week to know God’s will with the knowledge of His will, spiritual wisdom and understanding that we might please Him in all things.

Pray for those who don’t know Jesus, that your joy might be their joy ||| Perhaps you can share the gospel.

Pray for those who are going through something during this time of year ||| Consider spending time with them.

Pray for yourself. Pray for your j oy. He’s praying for the knowledge that brings joy, because we don’t always have it like we should. As you pray for it for others, include yourself.

PRAY

“During advent season we have joy, and it’s all because of Christ…”