Colossians 1:1-14

Introduction

Most of us would probably have a hard time finding Norway on a map.

But a quick google search will show you that Norway is known around the world for its prisons. who knew?

They are known to have the most luxurious prisons in the world. Luxury Prison you heard that right.

Halden Prison looks like an IKEA showroom meets an exclusive mountain spa.

Norway spends 91,000 per year on each prisoner. The US spends around 31,000

When we think of a letter written from prison we picture a well lit room paper pen provided at a nice desk with time to think.

In Norway imagine an office nicer than yours in a room nicer than yours with essential oils diffusing.

Our picture of prison is unique in the west to word history.

Paul wrote this letter to the Colossian believers from prison.

Maybe you have heard that Paul was in prison before in other books if you’ve been around church before.

Maybe like me you hear that and picture Paul, quill in hand, at a desk with candles lighting the evening so he can write in peace and comfort.

The hell on earth that would have been a Roman prison in Ephesus should shatter that picture in our mind.

Theologian Michael Bird says “Imagine Paul in prison in Ephesus. He is probably malnourished and short of sleep. He may well have suffered horrible illness: he will certainly have been beaten by guards and other prisoners. He feels helpless and alone in a dark and damp, with the smell of rot, excrement, and death all around him. Picture him then scribbling away on a small sheet of papyrus, squinting for lack of light…What Paul experienced in an Ephesian prison was not serenity, but searing hardship, not soothing tranquility but brokenness and anxiety” (wright & B bird 451).

From that damp dungeon with death and screams in the air God inspired the greatest missionary theologian ever to scribble out the sweetest exaltations of Jesus our Savior to the believers he loved.

To see a few dozen converts grow in the glory of the Gospel was Paul’s unstoppable mission.

To pour out his heart to the church in Colossae was the light for Paul in a dark room.

And His Light bursting into the darkness is that the Gospel is unstoppable and it is changing everything

We are going to see three things starting with the reality that every word Paul writes matters for us

Every Word Matters

Colossians 1:1-2

The End We Hope For Is Happening

Colossians 1:3-8

The Gospel Changes Everything

Colossians 1:9-14