COLOSSIANS 2:2 - Life Together: Encourage One Another

Introduction

One of the uphill battles in preaching a series on the importance of fellowship in the local church is that inevitably, the people who are here to hear the sermons aren’t the ones who need to be exhorted to fellowship! As we have seen over the past few weeks of our study, there is simply no way to obey large portions of the New Testament’s commands to you as a Christian unless you are committed to being part of a body of believers--the “one another” commands to love, cherish, guard and unite with one another are impossible to obey if you try to pursue your Christian walk by yourself.

One of the most familiar passages in the New Testament about meeting together as an essential component in Christian fellowship is one that we read earlier in our worship--we studied it last year as part of our sermon series in Hebrews:

Hebrews 10:24–25 LSB

And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Now as we consider the writer of Hebrews’ statement here, notice the contrast he sets up at the beginning of verse 25: “Not forsaking our own assembling together, but...” You’d expect him to balance forsaking fellowship with prioritizing fellowship, right? “Not forsaking our own assembling together, but assembling together...”

But he doesn’t do that--what does he set in place as the opposite of forsaking fellowship?

Hebrews 10:25 LSB

“...not forsaking our own assembling together... but encouraging one another...

So here it is: The opposite of forsaking fellowship is encouraging one another. So then that means that forsaking assembly is discouraging to one another, and attending meeting together is encouraging to one another.

And this makes more sense when we consider that the Greek word most often translated “encourage” in the New Testament is parakaleo--literally meaning to be “called alongside”. The act of encouragement involves coming alongside each other--and while it’s possible on some level to send an encouraging note or text or make an encouraging phone call, the Bible’s definition of encouragement is not the sort of thing that can primarily be done from a distance! Consider in the Old Testament when Job’s friends (who didn’t exactly turn out to be the most encouraging friends) at least made it a point to come and sit with him in his suffering.

Or consider Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before His execution wanted the encouragement of His disciples to wait and pray with Him:

Matthew 26:38 LSB

Then He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.”

(And in fact we are told in Luke that an angel appeared to Christ to be with Him at those final moments before His arrest).

So the Scriptures show us that encouragement means being called alongside; being together with, one another. So far so good--but then the question becomes what does an encouraging gathering look like? The writer of Hebrews says that not meeting is discouraging, and meeting together is encouraging.

But what should our gatherings together look like--what elements should we be looking for? Because as we have already noted throughout this study, this kind of fellowship is not automatic. We cannot presume that just because we are meeting together as Christians that our gatherings together will simply be encouraging. We are always balancing the New Birth that works in us with the remains of our old sin nature--the fruits of the Spirit striving with the works of the flesh. It is possible (and many of us have been there) to walk out of a church service being profoundly and deeply discouraged.

None of us want that for our fellowship--nobody wants this fellowship to be the reason that someone walks away from church. What are the elements that the Scripture says we must strive for so that our gathered worship is encouraging to one another?

Turn with me to our text for this morning, Colossians 2 (you’ll find it on Page 983 of the pew Bible). One of the Apostle Paul’s main concerns in writing to the church in Colosse is (as Steve has pointed out in his sermon series) the temptations the Colossian believers were under to forsake Christ for the promise of all kinds of secret knowledge that was only available through the false teachers who were spreading their philosophies through the region.

In Chapter 1 Paul introduces the argument that he will pursue throughout the letter; specifically, that Jesus Christ is the highest and most perfect representation of all wisdom and knowledge, and the only hope of eternal salvation and access to God. Then as Chapter 2 opens, he specifically refers to his struggle to present the completeness of Christ as a source of encouragement to the believers in Colosse:

Colossians 2:1–2 LSB

For I want you to understand how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not seen my face in the flesh, so that their hearts may be encouraged, having been held together in love, even unto all the wealth of the full assurance of understanding, unto the full knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself,

And so here is the way I want to frame our exposition of this text this morning--what I am to show you from the Scriptures here open before you is that

We are ENCOURAGED in fellowship as we are ESTABLISHED in the EXCELLENCIES of Christ

The supremacy of Christ over all other forms of wisdom, knowledge and hope for eternal life is our greatest source of encouragement as believers, and when our gathering together in worship and fellowship is pursued in a way that establishes us in the supremacy of Jesus Christ in all things, then our life together is one of encouragement to one another.

How are we encouraged in fellowship by the excellencies of Christ? First I would suggest from these verses that we are encouraged in our fellowship

I. By the LOVE that we share in Christ

See it here in the first part of verse 22:

Colossians 2:2 LSB

so that their hearts may be encouraged, having been held together in love...

We are encouraged together in Christ when we are held together in love. Once again, we see that love is the foundation of all of our fellowship together in Christ--first of all, consider the encouragement that comes from knowing that

We are SAFE in the love of our SAVIOR (Rom. 5:6-8; 8:35)

Christian, you are safe in the love of your Savior because He loved you when you were as unlovable as possible:

Romans 5:6–8 LSB

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

There is great encouragement in the realization that the love Christ has for you, Christian, has nothing to do with how lovable you are! His love for you cannot be diminished by your struggles and failures with sin, because when He set His love on you you were utterly lost in your sin!

And there is no calamity, loss, misfortune, grief, violence or trauma that will ever diminish or distance you from the love of Jesus Christ for you:

Romans 8:35 LSB

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction, or turmoil, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

When we meet together in worship and fellowship we are encouraged when we consider the excellencies of Christ’s love--and because we are safe in the love of our Savior,

We are SECURE in the love of our FELLOWSHIP (1 John 4:10-11)

The Apostle John knew a thing or two about the love of Jesus--he calls himself “the one that Jesus loved”, and was known throughout the rest of his life as “The Beloved Disciple”. In his first letter, John writes about the way we love one another in the church:

1 John 4:10–11 LSB

In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Because you have been loved by the sacrificial love of Christ for you, Who sacrificed Himself on that Cross so that you would be rescued from the wrath of Almighty God against you for your sin, then you are able to love that same way: Love your brothers and sisters in Christ with that sacrificial love, that gracious love that pours itself out on others.

By some accounts the Apostle John suffered some sort of apoplexy or stroke in his final years and had to be carried from place to place. Evidently the speech centers of his brain had somehow been affected, and according to his disciples the only words he was able to say in the final months of his life were “Little children, love one another.” May it be so with us; may our love for the household of faith be so deeply ingrained in us that when everything else is gone from us, our love for Christ and His people would remain!

We are encouraged in our fellowship as we are established in the excellencies of Christ--by the love that we share in Christ and

II. By the ASSURANCE that we have in Christ

Look further with me in Colossians 2:2:

Colossians 2:2 LSB

so that their hearts may be encouraged, having been held together in love, even unto all the wealth of the full assurance of understanding, unto the full knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself,

Throughout this epistle, Paul returns again and again to the supremacy of Christ as the sum of all wisdom and knowledge. Here in this verse he describes it as “the wealth of the full assurance of understanding”--in other words, the assurance we have of our salvation comes from understanding what Christ has done for us. And Paul describes that assurance as a great wealth that we have, a wealth that is precious to us

When we are IMPOVERISHED by our DOUBTS (cp. Jude 20-22)

When those seasons of weakness in your faith land on you, Christian--when your physical or spiritual frailties weigh on you and cause those doubts to start swirling about, there is nothing like the wealth of assurance that comes from spending time in the company of your brothers and sisters in Christ. The Apostle Jude encourages the church in his epistle:

Jude 20–22 LSB

But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And on some, who are doubting, have mercy;

There is nothing like the encouragement that comes from a brother or sister in Christ who can have mercy on you in your doubts because they have been there too. To know that you are understood in your weaknesses, that other members of the Body of Christ gathered in this church get it. They know what you are suffering, they know how you are despairing, and they can enrich your faith in Christ, pointing you back again and again to His mercy and His grace and His presence in your weaknesses and despondency. This fellowship is a wealth of assurance when you are impoverished by your doubts.

And not only so, but the encouragement that we have in Christ in this body is a wealth of assurance for us

When we are ASSAILED by our SINS (cp. Heb 3:13)

Consider what a great assurance you have in this body of saints when you gather here for worship. This is one of the reasons that we make confession of sin a central part of our worship service; to not only hear God’s Word assure us of the pardon from our sins, but when you hear the “Amen” from your brothers and sisters gathered here it is a reminder to you that they are all struggling with sin as well! And by spending time in confession of sin week by week, and by hearing God’s promises from His Word assuring you of your forgiveness in Christ, you are strengthened to wade back into the fight.

The confession of sin and assurance of pardon in Christ also helps us keep our defenses sharp against sin in our lives; by solemnly considering the state of our hearts and the price of our pardon in the blood of Christ, we keep ourselves from being calloused about tolerating sin. As the writer of Hebrews says

Hebrews 3:13 LSB

But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

We are encouraged in fellowship as we are established in the excellencies of Christ our atonement. When we assemble together we take part in that great wealth of the full assurance of understanding what Christ has done for us for the encouragement of our weaknesses and the building up of our strength to fight for holiness.

And so as we come to the end of Colossians 2:2 we see a third way that we are encouraged by the excellencies of Christ--we are encouraged

III. By the GLORY that we behold in Christ

Colossians 2:2–3 LSB

so that their hearts may be encouraged, having been held together in love, even unto all the wealth of the full assurance of understanding, unto the full knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

The false teachers assailing the Colossian church wanted them to believe that there was no way to understand the great mysteries of wisdom and knowledge; that such things were hidden from them, and only the Great Masters could reveal such mysteries.

But Paul says that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are not hidden from us; they are hidden for us in Christ! And those hidden treasures of wisdom and knowledge are opened to us every Sunday

As He is revealed in our WORSHIP together (cp. Heb. 10:25)

Every week as we meet together in His Name, we gather to ascribe to Him the honor and worship that He is due for His work on our behalf. Our worship service is intentionally and specifically designed to follow the “storyline” of the Gospel and Christ’s work in saving us. We are called by His Word to gather in His presence, where we worship Him for His glory. Then we hear Him speak to us through His Word as we read it together, and His Word spoken to us exposes our guilt before Him. And so we come to Him in repentance, placing our faith in His death, burial and resurrection for the forgiveness of our sins and a relationship with Him that assures us of our pardon and our standing as His children to come into His presence with our petitions and intercessions. Then we attend together to His Word as it is opened to us, are fed at His Table during the Lord’s Supper where we consider again His work for us on the Cross, and then are sent out into the world with His blessing, empowered to represent His reign in every area of our lives.

And when you gather here to carry out that worship with your brothers and sisters in Christ, do not forget what a great encouragement you are to one another. You may think that no one will miss you if you skip a Sunday, you may think that no one will notice or care if you don’t sing; you may think that your participation is only for your benefit.

But to think that way is to neglect the Scriptures’ teaching that your presence and participation in worship is a massive source of encouragement to your brothers and sisters in Christ! Don’t forsake gathering; don’t forsake singing; don’t forsake careful attention to the Word preached; don’t forsake praying; don’t forsake this Table--because all of it is not only for your edification but for the encouragement of everyone you are joining in this worship!

We are encouraged in our gathering together when we see Christ’s excellencies revealed in our worship together, and we are encouraged

As He is revealed in our FELLOWSHIP together (cp. Gal 3:27-28)

In Galatians 3, Paul makes this statement about the character of our fellowship in the church:

Galatians 3:27–28 LSB

For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

This goes back to our earlier study in Ephesians about how God has in Christ made one people out of two--Jews and Gentiles are now one body. Here again, Paul says that when you put on Christ, you are no longer separated by the distinctions that used to mean so much--there is no separation between “Jew” or “Greek” or “slave” or “free” or “male” or “female”--you are all together in Christ.

This is why baptism as a believer is an essential requirement for joining in membership here at Bethel--because that act of baptism represents the point at which your old life--with all its distinctions, separations, divisions and broken connections--all of it died with Christ. He took those old divisions and all of your sin and guilt and shame and hatred and fear and sank down into the grave with them--and left them there! And rising back up out of that grave, He brought with Him your new life in Him--a life of fellowship with Him and with everyone who has also died and risen with Him. And that glory shines in you more brightly and more beautifully as you deepen your love and devotion and fellowship with one another.

There is something that I have noticed over the years here at Bethel. I have thought about it a lot; and the Scriptures here I believe give some insight into what is going on. I have come to the point where I can tell you within a month or so whether a new member at Bethel is going to stay or not--someone who goes from being a “visitor” to a regular attender and who then expresses an interest in membership. I can tell you who will stay on as a member and who will leave. It’s not some kind of special discernment or spiritual insight; it’s actually very simple: The people who "stick” as members of this church tend to be the ones who stick around after church.

By that I mean the people who really invest in the fellowship of this church. The ones who make it a point to get to know everyone, the ones who take advantage of every fellowship opportunity; the ones who spend time outside of the worship service with other families; the ones who look for opportunities to have other families into their homes and into their lives. Because they are the ones who receive the encouragement of this fellowship.

But I’ve seen it time and again; people who come to the church, go through the membership classes, get baptized, join the church--but who never spend time in fellowship--they inevitably drop off the radar. They have no encouragement because they cut themselves off from the lifeblood of the church; the fellowship of encouragement that God has established here. And when you forgo fellowship, you forfeit encouragement.

Christian, God has so ordained the encouragement for your daily walk with Christ be found in the encouragement that comes as part of a fellowship that establishes itself in the excellencies of Christ. Your greatest source of encouragement in your walk with Christ is found in this room with these people. Here where our hearts are held together in love; here where you find the wealth of the full assurance and understanding of Christ’s work for you; here where the glory of Christ shines in the worship of His people and fellowship together with them. Don’t turn away from this; don’t forsake this assembling together; be encouraged as you walk with your brothers and sisters here as we seek to establish our fellowship in the excellencies of our Savior, Jesus Christ!

BENEDICTION:

Hebrews 13:20–21 LSB

Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, our Lord Jesus, equip you in every good thing to do His will, by doing in us what is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION:

Read Hebrews 10:25 again. What does the author set as the opposite of “encouraging one another”? What does this say about the effects on a church family when its members indulge a habit of skipping church on a regular basis?

What are the two ways our “hearts are held together in love” according to the sermon? How does your security in Christ’s love empower you to be an encouragement to your fellow members here at Bethel?

How can the presence of other believers being “called alongside” you during times of weakness and doubt be a great encouragement to your faith? In what ways can you offer similar encouragement to others in their weaknesses?

What are some specific steps you can take this week to deepen your relationships with other members here at Bethel? What opportunities for fellowship and encouragement does the church provide that you can take advantage of?