The Power of the Gospel | Colossians 1:3-8
Notes
Transcript
Good morning church! If you have your Bibles and I hope you do, then go ahead and head on over to Colossians 1:3-8. Last week we got started on this passage and this week we’ll wrap up these few verses.
Now it dawned on me last week that I’ve got a problem. When I get a little excited I tend to talk a little fast, so, I’m sorry for that. I also realized that everything I listen to, books, youtube, podcast, are all at at least 1.5x speed. So I think subconsciously I’ve just come to believe that if you are speed talking that you’re just waisting time. So based off of my listening habits and excitement over last weeks sermon I have decided to try to move a little bit slower, but don’t worry, I’m going to try to not take any longer.
Hopefully by now you’re to our passage. I’m sure as you’ve noticed we’re taking our time through this. These verses are rich, and I want to press deep into them to draw from the well of gospel truth. I am not trying to drag my feet through this book, but I think there is so much for us to gain. So, let’s read starting at the beginning of the book and go to verse 8. I’ll pray after that and then we’ll dive into it.
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 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, just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.
This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Let’s pray.
One of our dear family friends, Ron is his name, grew up in a drug infested, gang culture. He was addicted to heroin and was an abusive man. However, one of the guys in his gang became a Christian. Ron was hanging out with that guy one day he heard his fellow gang member talking to another guy about church. Out of curiosity, Ron decided that that Sunday he’d take his wife and go check this church out. So he put on his best pair of dirty jeans and they went to church. He didn’t leave changed, but what he did leave with was something that he couldn’t un-hear.
Life went on and Ron’s wife, Carol, began to grow fearful of what would happen to her and their kids. So one night, she hatched a plan to leave, but instead of her leaving, Ron got up and left the house. His addiction to heroin had taken him to the bottom of the pit. So as he sat and contemplated suicide, the things he heard from that church and that fellow gang member began to ring in his ears. It was at that point that Ron sensed the Spirit of the Lord tell him, “Ron, put your faith in me and not in the needle.” So Ron did. That night he put his faith in Jesus and from that point forward he never took another hit of heroin.
But what does a drugged up, gang member do with his life? The power of the gospel was so transformative in his life that he knew he couldn’t do anything else but tell other people about the Jesus who saved him. So Ron became a missionary. In his missionary work he got plugged into the juvenile detention system for the state of California and became a chaplain serving kids who were growing up to become the same kind of man he was.
Now, why do I tell you the story of our friend Ron? I tell it to you, because we need to be reminded, like the church at Colossae, that the gospel doesn’t just inform, it transforms. There’s 3 ways in which I think Paul tells us the gospel is powerful. It’s powerful in that it has come to them. It’s powerful in that it goes to the whole world, and it’s powerful in that it continues to bear fruit. But why does the church at Colossae and why do we need to see and hear those things? Why do we need to be reminded that the gospel is continuing to do the things that it did back in Paul’s day? Because as we behold the gospel, as we fix our eyes on the objective hope & place our faith in the work of Jesus do you know what happens to us? We’re transformed by the power of the gospel, and as we’re transformed do you know what we’re to do? Like Paul, like Epaphras, like my friend Ron, we are to live on mission. So here’s our main point for today: Live on mission. As the gospel changes you—it sends you. So Live on mission.
Now as we work through this text there’s really one question that we’re going to continue to revisit: Why does this church at Colossae need to know this? We’ll look at it several different ways, but ultimately, it’s the purpose behind why Paul wrote this letter. The answer to that question doesn’t just affect them, it affects us. So, Why does Colossae need to know that the gospel has come to them and the whole world and it is bearing fruit and increasing? We have our main point, but there’s 3 reasons behind it. Here’s the first:
The transformative power of the gospel validates the truth of the gospel.
The transformative power of the gospel validates the truth of the gospel.
Paul writes to remind them—and us—that Jesus is enough. Don’t add to Him. Don’t substitute Him. The gospel doesn’t need help; it has power. If we look ahead to Col. 2:8 Paul tells them:
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
There was some sort of teaching, philosophy and tradition trying to work it’s way into the church that said, look, Jesus is all fine and good. You should have him. But, if you truly want to experience the fullness of God you also must think this way and do these traditions to be satisfied. So as Doug Moo says, “Paul…seeks to ground the Colossians spiritually by appealing both to the truth of the gospel and to its life-changing power. The gospel is authenticated not by its truth only nor by its power in people’s lives only but by both working in tandem.”
This is what differentiated Christianity in Paul’s day, and what differentiates us today as well. Every other religion in the world says that in order for you to satisfy God or the gods or in order for you to experience the fulness of the power of God you must have certain works that go along with your faith, or that you must have some sort of philosophy to truly enjoy and be satisfied in life.
I decided to throw the question, What is the primary philosophy that influences Americans mindset and worldview today? Here’s it’s answer:
“The primary philosophy that influences the American mindset and worldview today is individualism, particularly in its modern form of expressive individualism. This philosophy emphasizes personal freedom, self-expression, and the belief that individuals should define their own purpose, values, and identity, often independent of traditional structures like family, religion, or nation.
In today's context, it's shaped by:
Consumer culture: Encouraging people to express identity through choices and lifestyles.
Digital technology and social media: Promoting visibility of personal narratives and self-branding.
Therapeutic culture: Prioritizing emotional well-being, authenticity, and self-fulfillment.”
I thought that was a pretty accurate answer. Now, in each of these things Jesus isn’t necessarily rejected, they all just declare that he’s not enough. They all say you must go and do. You must become. You must prioritize yourself. But at the end of the day, they all you leave you empty.
But Paul says, no, you don’t go or you don’t do to receive grace and fulfilment and purpose. Our gracious God saw you striving for those things, chasing after the wind, and in His grace He came to you. The gospel has come to you. It’s not something that you add on to. It’s not something you seek out. Through the incarnation—God becoming man in the person of Jesus—his grace has come to you.
That grace also tells us the truth—we couldn’t achieve it on our own. We needed a rescuer. We needed a savior. So grace & truth has come to us in Jesus, and Paul says that it is doing the transformative work of bearing fruit. Real quick, what is the fruit? Well the only other time this phrase is used in the book is just a little further down in Col. 1:10
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;
The fruit that the gospel is bearing is good works and knowledge of God. As you grow in your knowledge of God you began to see and understand and know the hope that you are looking for and that ultimately leads us to love. What is love? It’s our hope expressed at great expense to ourself—or good works. In growing in our knowledge of God what’s cultivated is our love for God that works itself out in love for others. To truly behold and believe in the truth of the gospel and receive the grace of the gospel always produces a transformation in you that leads to genuine love for others. That’s the fruit the gospel bears. So here’s my question…is it possible to see the grace and truth of Jesus and say we believe that Jesus is the savior we need, yet not bear the fruit? Can I claim to believe the truth yet not bear the fruit?
One of the things I really need to do is plant some trees around my house. When I was a kid my granddad had an orchard with cherry and apple and peach trees, so I’ve always had a dream to plant some fruit trees out by house. So say I go next door to Tractor Supply and I walk in and buy me an apple tree, or at least it has an apple tree sticker on it. I plant it. I tend to it. I water it. But as it grows it never bears any fruit. Now I don’t want to overthink this illustration, but it had the sticker. It is a tree. But if it’s not bearing any apple fruit is it really an apple tree? Here’s the thing, you don’t prove the type of tree by the label on the pot—it’s proven by the fruit on the branch. Now say I go to the store and get some apples and staple them on to the tree. Does that make it an apple tree? No. The same is true of faith. Belief without transformation is like a fruit tree with plastic apples stapled to it. From a distance, it might look real. But up close, it has no life in it.
This is what James warns of in James 2:18-19. We looked at verse 18 last week, but see what immediately follows:
But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!
To believe that Jesus is God yet not bear the fruit of faith is to be no different than the demons.
So then the question is how do we truly receive the grace of the gospel? How do we allow the gospel to penetrate our hearts and transform us from the inside out so that we aren’t stapling fruit to the tree but producing fruit naturally?
What’s the second half of Col. 1:6?
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,
Heard and understood. This is what Paul says in Rom. 10:17
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
When we hear the word of Christ we begin to see what our true hope is. When we see our hope our faith is awakened. Hearing awakens faith because in hearing we see our hope. (Stool Illustration). Now here’s what’s really cool about having true faith and keeping our eyes fixed on our hope.
1 John 3:2
Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
What will happen when we fully see Jesus? We shall be like him. Imagine that!? Isn’t that a wonderful hope. That one day we will see him face to face and in that moment we will become like him. Right now we see dimly through hearing, but the day is coming when those who have placed their faith & trust in him will see him fully and be fully transformed.
But since we can see dimly that means we can see some. Which means that we can be transformed now. Not fully, but in part. This doesn’t mean we become better people. This doesn’t mean we become more moralistic people. This means that we become new people. We go from an elm tree to apple tree. Something entirely new that bears fruit because it has received the gospel that has come. Now here’s why that’s good news…
Instead of working for approval, or working to bear fruit, or working for identity, we can receive the one given to us by the Son who’s come to us. That’s something that works from the inside out, not the outside in. So, here’s my question for you today…if the transformative power of the gospel validates the truth of the gospel then objectively speaking those who have truly received the gospel will be transformed. If that’s true, then what is different about you because of the powerful, transformative truth of the gospel? Have you received the gospel as a truth to affirm, or as a power to transform? Because the gospel doesn’t just change your mind—it changes your entire life. That power is proof, not just to the church at Colossae, not just to you and me, but to the entire world that the gospel is true.
That’s reason number one. The second reason why Paul would want the church at Colossae to know the gospel has come to them, the whole world and is bearing fruit and increasing is this:
Transformative power of the gospel keeps us on mission.
Transformative power of the gospel keeps us on mission.
Paul reminds them that the gospel is working in them first, but then he actually takes the next step to say that it has come and is bearing fruit in the whole world. Not the whole region. Not the whole state. The whole world. The work of the gospel is global.
The breadth of the reach of the gospel gives weight to the truth of the gospel and it reminds the church at Colossae that their eyes shouldn’t just be focused inwardly, or locally, but globally.
Church, the mission to which Christ has called us is to the ends of the earth. That’s why our mission statement is what is: We exist to glorify God in Dalhart and around the world. God uses the least likely people—Paul, Epaphras, Tychichus, you and me—from the least likely places—Jerusalem, Nazareth, Bethlehem, Dalhart—to accomplish his global mission.
This is why we send people like Brian & Christa Pate to Brazil. In the past couple months they’ve celebrated multiple baptisms in their church. They relocated to a new building so they could fit more people and are already filling that building up. Brian is effectively serving at that church while at the same time training up more pastors to go plant more churches throughout Brazil.
This is why we sent Will & Dustin over to Africa a few months ago to see Manna Worldwide and the feeding centers we support. They come back and report not just on mouths being fed, or kids being educated—which is great—but of churches being planted. People being trained. The gospel bearing fruit.
This is why we joined the Redeemer Network. So we could be a part of local churches working together to accomplish that task that God has given his church and that’s to bear fruit. To reproduce. To plant and train more churches. They just launched 3 guys this year to plant churches. Next year there’ll be 4 guys planting churches—2 in Loveland, CO, one in Pampa, and another in San Antonio.
This week, I listened to a sermon by the guy who’s pastoring the fastest growing church in the US. It’s in Jacksonville, FL. Over the past 365 days they have baptised 2600 people. That’s .003% of the city of Jacksonville’s population.
But it isn’t just global, it is local. So here’s some numbers for you about us. We launched Men’s DGroups a few months back. There has consistently been 27 men who have committed to pursuing the Lord together. Church, this is a really big deal. We need men to step-up and lead their families and lead the church, and it’s happening. But we also need women and we have now consistently for a few years had a group of women that have been committed to deep discipleship and Bible study. I know that things are coming for that group and I’m excited about what the future holds. But it’s not just adults, it’s kids too. You just saw KidZone and the serious discipleship those kids are getting—not to mention us parents who are working to help them memorize. On top of KidZone is VBS. Two Saturdays ago we had a prep meeting. Get this—two years ago there was 1 person who could make it. This year—15. I think we have every spot we need filled. Last Sunday we celebrated our 3rd baptism and next Sunday we’ll celebrate our 4th. This is just some real recent, high level work, there’s more! But my point is this: the gospel is going forth and effectively reaching the ends of the earth and even transforming us today. The things we are a part of and the direction we are continuing to move is to be a part of God’s global mission.
Paul tells the Colossians this so that they stay on mission. But also so that their hearts are encouraged. So often we can begin to feel like what we’re doing is spinning our tires in mud. That we are working and working, yet aren’t making any progress, but the gospel is still growing as it is going. The gospel has come. The gospel is growing. The gospel is going. And wherever it goes—it transforms.
So then, here’s the question for you: Are you living on mission because the transformative power of the gospel is working itself out of you? Do you think about what it means for you where you live, in the sphere’s of influence that you have to express the hope that has come to you—to display the love that has been given to you? If not, then I think we’re forced to ask, is it because you haven’t been transformed by the gracious truth of Jesus? When you’ve truly received the power of the gospel you are transformed to live a life on mission.
Now that leads us to our third point and last question that we need to ask. Paul has written these phrases specifically to remind the church at Colossae that Christ is all. That the gospel is true. That it calls us out on mission. But that leaves me with the question, if the gospel is growing throughout the whole world, what should our expectations be? That’s our third point:
Transformative power of the gospel sets our expectations.
Transformative power of the gospel sets our expectations.
When Jordan and I were doing premarital counseling our pastor had us go to each of our parents and ask them what is the biggest piece of advice that they would give us. So we did, and there was one parent’s advice that has really stuck. I don’t want to throw any of my parents under the bus so I won’t tell you who’s it was, but my dad’s advice was that we should lower our expectations. Honestly, I was pretty mad. I was like seriously, I’m so pumped about this girl and what life has in store and what you’ve got for me is that she isn’t as great as I think she is?! What the heck? Well good news, she’s better than I thought. (Happy Mother’s Day!) But dad’s point still carries I think some wisdom with it.
So much of life has to do with expectations. When our expectations aren’t met then we have a tendency to end up disappointed, distraught, angry, mad, defeated, you name it. It’s a whole pool of emotions that well up in us. However, if our expectations are met, or even exceeded, we rejoice in triumph. So then, what are gospel expectations?
Paul I think gives some clarity here in this verse. I want to go ahead and put Col. 1:6 back on the screen so it’s in front of us.
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,
The language Paul uses here tells that the gospel is continuing to bear fruit now just as it did when we first heard it. It isn’t a one and done thing. The moment of your justification—the moment God forgave you and declared Christ’s work on the cross as an acceptable payment for your sins—that moment is a one and done, but the bearing fruit and increasing continues. If we have been transformed by the power of the gospel we should expect to see not just growth in our knowledge of God, but a desire to grow in our knowledge of God.
I thought I loved my wife when I first married her, but now 13 years later I realize that I had no clue what love was when we got married. As I have grown in my knowledge of her the more I’ve grown in my love for her, and in doing that, do you know what I want to do? I want to be with her! I want to hang out with her and know her more. You could give us 2 weeks alone and at the end of it I wouldn’t have grown tired or weary of being with her. It is no problem for me to give up my own personal comfort or control when I’m with her. In fact, I enjoy it. I don’t try to fight for her approval, because I know I already have it. She already said yes.
The same is true of our relationship with God. Our willingness to fight for our own personal comfort, control, and approval will fade and what will grow is our desire to know the grace and truth of the God who saved us. As that happens we don’t just become newer, better versions of ourself. We become entirely new people. As we encounter the transformative power of the gospel we can expect that it’ll continue to grow in us a love for God, but it doesn’t stop there, does it? It can’t. The way you know it’s growing in you is that it grows out of you.
I think that’s another reason why Paul mentions Epaphras more than once in this letter—to remind them of the example they have in one of their own. Look at how Paul describes him Col. 1:7
just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf
and then again in Col 4:12-13
Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis.
The power of the gospel transformed Epaphras. Now, we don’t really know much about him outside of these mentions. There’s one other mention of him in Philemon 23, but it doesn’t tell us too much. But what do we see here about him? He was beloved by both Paul and the church. He, like Paul was a fellow servant. So much so that he made the trek to Rome to find Paul to get clarity on these issues. He was a faithful minister who planted the church, cared for his flock, and struggled in his prayers for them. He worked hard for them. What does that sound like to you? It sounds like love. Spirit empowered, spirit-transformed love that ended up not just transforming him, but the city of Colossae, and Laodicea, and Heirapolis. Lives were transformed in multiple places because of the work of Epaphras.
But do you think Epaphras was just a unique character? Do you think maybe that God was just moving in a unique way during that timeframe? Church I don’t think so. I think he’s an example of what to expect. I think we should expect that as the gospel grows in these kids who were up here earlier and as it grows in some of you in here that we will see more people become missionaries and pastors and deacons. I think we’ll see more people who may not be called to those things but are called to things like serving as teachers, and principals and school board members or mayors or lawyers or doctors or like the guy Tychicus mentioned in ch 4 the letter carrier. All of it! If the gospel is truly powerful and working then we should expect more of all of these people who go and live on mission as they grow in the power of the gospel.
If we truly believe that we serve the God who, as Paul describes in Ephesians 3:20–21 “…is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think…” then church I think we should expect the power of the gospel to transform us from the inside out to be effective ministers of that gospel. That’s not just for the guy who preaches; it’s for everyone who has truly claimed Christ as Lord.
The gospel is true and it is powerful. Both of those things at the same time, not one without the other. It keeps us and calls us on mission, and it sets our expectations. Church, be encouraged this morning! The gospel is still working. It’s working right here just as much as it is in Brazil, and it’s not done. In fact, I think God has far more abundantly than we can ask or think yet to do here. I think we should raise our expectations, not lower them for gospel ministry here. But in order for that to happen do you know what you must do? Live on mission as you grow in the transformative power of the gospel. The gospel will and must continue to go forward, but God has chosen you, the church, to be the ones who carry the grace of God in truth. Will you do it? Will you receive the gospel and allow it to change who you are? Or will you staple fruit to a tree so that you look similar, but ultimately are dead inside? How will you respond to the word of the truth, the gospel, 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? Let’s pray.
