Bearing Fruit and Increasing
Notes
Transcript
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.
Welcome -
Slides
Dear Sister Nubia,
"You can imagine the happiness of these Nursing Students.! It was a great privilege for them to not only see [a Bible], but to now own a copy! We thank God for this great opportunity.
There are so many people who are just like these Students. All desire to see a Bible in written Swahili language and to further their relationship with the Lord through reading the Word of God..Most churches do not even have Bibles, occasionally the Pastor or a Church Leader will have one, so this is a great opportunity for this body of believers today. Please, keep us in your prayers as we go and deliver the Good News to those who are praying to receive."
Brother John
Beginning series in Colossians - journaling bibles*
Today we are going to look at Paul’s greeting and the introduction to his letter to the Colossian church.
But what’s in an introduction?
⬇️Usually, preaching the opening and closing salutations of a letter are the most difficult portions to preach - not because they contain controversial subjects that some might shy away from, not because there are such deep theological issues being addressed that it’s too easy to get stuck in the weeds - but because it is usually Paul just saying hello and good-bye and sending greetings to and from some specific people.
How the teaching team usually sets the schedule* - sometimes two people want the same passage - nobody is clamoring to preach the opening and closing of a letter. Ever.
Because what’s really there?
Well, here in this short letter’s short introduction, there's a lot.
There are deep theological principles. There are, in fact, controversial statements by today’s standard. And there is a simple but rich explanation of what the Christian life should be.
And there is, like in the whole letter, a focus on Christ. Paul speaks about Christ five times in these eight verses. That should tell us something about what the letter will be about.
But we have even more here, because in the introduction, Christ, the Father, and the Spirit are all talked about. Paul speaks of God as trinity in these eight verses.
And he speaks of the Gospel. Though he uses the word “Gospel” only once, the truth he talks about is the truth of the Gospel.
God, and the truth of the Gospel - this is what the letter to the Colossians is about, and this is what the Christian life is about.
And we will see that even in the introduction.
But before we dive into the passage and into this series, I want to take a few minutes to give you some general information about this wonderful little letter.
This is one of what’s known as Paul’s “prison epistles.” Because it was written while he was in prison. We know that because in chapter four, Paul says that the Gospel is the reason he is in prison. We don’t know exactly which imprisonment he is speaking of, but we know he was in prison.
And he is writing to a church in Colossae. It was in southwest Asia Minor. It was not a large city or an important city, but there was a church there.
And the reason he is writing is because he heard that some false teachers where troubling the church.
And what was being taught has become known as the “Colossian Heresy.” What was the Colossian heresy?
Well, in one sense, it was the same as the heresy of the Judaizers we talked about in our series on Galatians. It was, in a sense, the same as the problems the Corinthian church was having, as we saw in that series.
Simply put, the problem was that someone was teaching “Jesus Plus.” Something - or a few things - were being added to Christ.
In Galatia, it was Jesus plus circumcision and the Law.
In Corinth, it was Jesus plus the world and its ways.
Here in Colossae, it was Jesus plus a bunch of other things. This is why the letter holds up Christ as so sufficient and completely supreme. All the church needed was Christ, and Him alone.
That is all we need.
But, in Colossae, some false teachers had brought in the idea of superior hidden wisdom and the regulation that went with it. Paul calls it later in the letter “vain philosophy and deceit.”
They taught asceticism - or denying all physical indulgences or pleasure. They taught that the Word of God was not enough - that there was “special knowledge” required to truly worship God.
They taught about the exaltation of other heavenly beings.
We see in all of this the seed of later Christian Gnosticism.
Many believe that a form of Jewish Gnosticism had entered the church.
Because in addition to these things, they taught that there should be strict adherence to some of the Jewish traditions, like dietary laws and festival observances.
But here’s what I find interesting: Paul hears about this, and writes this letter.
Why is that interesting? Because, Paul had not met these believers.
And, as I said, Colossae was not a big, important city. This was not a big church. They had no influence outside of their city.
In fact, it has been said that this is the least important church Paul wrote to in all his letters.
But Paul covers so many themes that he does in his other letters - letters written to some very important churches in big important cities.
In other words, the truth of the Gospel is the same for big churches in important cities as it is for small churches in small cities.
You know, like our church. We aren’t a big church. We aren’t in a big city.
But what Paul says in this letter is for churches exactly like us.
We need to heed his warnings.
And we need to be encouraged by his exhortations.
Let’s see what he says to churches like ours.
He starts:
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
He introduces himself as the writer of the letter, and he introduces himself as an apostle of Christ. He establishes his authority to say what he is going to say in this letter.
And he points out that this authority is granted by God. God has made him an apostle - an ambassador - of Jesus. A messenger or spokesperson for Jesus Himself.
But not just of Jesus. Paul says of “Christ Jesus.”
Now Paul inverts the order at times - and it’s almost 50-50 throughout all of his writings. Sometimes he says Jesus Christ, and sometimes he says Christ Jesus.
And it really makes no difference, because contrary to popular belief in the world, Christ is not part of Jesus’ name.
It is a title.
Don’t miss that Christ is a title. Jesus of Nazareth, or Jesus, son of Joseph, is the Christ. He is the Messiah. And that title carries a lot of weight. The Messiah was the hope of Israel. He was the restorer of Israel. He was the savior of Israel.
It is who Israel was waiting for to fulfill the promises of the Old Testament.
And Jesus is that Messiah.
And Paul, in applying the title to Jesus - he’s saying that he - Christ - is the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises.
Why would this be important for a largely gentile church in Asia Minor?
Well, first, the false teachers were insisting on adhering to some of the Jewish Law. A law that Christ fulfilled.
But second, and more importantly, in Christ, the Colossians receive the promises of God, whether Jew or Gentile.
Like we have received the promises.
Because all the promises of God find their “yes” in Christ.
And if we have Him, we have those promises fulfilled to us.
And that means, in Christ, the church is the bearer of those promises.
And Paul is a messenger or ambassador of those promises, all, he says, according to the will of God.
In other words, Paul didn’t assume the role of Apostle for himself. Go read the book of Acts - he did anything but. God called him into that role.
Paul wants the Colossians to know that what he says is not of him or his will, but of Christ, and of God’s will.
What he says is from the One Who fulfilled the promises of God.
And note that Timothy is also sending the letter. We saw the same kind of thing in 1 Corinthians where Sosthenes sent that letter along with Paul.
Why is Timothy involved here?
Timothy served with Paul in the region of southwest Asia Minor, and he may have been known to the Christians in Colossae - better known than Paul was. Paul may be further establishing his authority, because Timothy, who might be known by this church, is in essence vouching for Paul and his authority by writing this letter with him.
In fact, Timothy is very possibly physically writing the letter. At the end of the letter, Paul writes one line including his name with his own hand. Someone else wrote the rest of the letter as Paul dictated it.
It was very likely Timothy.
And who is Timothy? Well, for the sake of this greeting, Paul calls him “our brother.” His brother, and the brother of all the Colossian Christians. Which makes Paul their brother.
This is a family matter Paul is addressing.
And Paul continues with this family theme.
He says:
To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
He refers to them all - all the Christians in this church - as brothers. It is a blanket term for brothers and sisters - for family! Paul is addressing them as a family. Yes, he is an apostle, but he is a member of their family.
His gifting may be different, and his vocation may be different, but they were family and they were all in this together.
And there was a common calling on all of them.
He calls these brothers and sisters “saints.”
⬇️I don’t like that translation.
First, for those outside the church, it likely conjures up ideas of the saints of Roman Catholicism. You know, people who were especially good and holy in life and have a special standing in God’s kingdom.
But even worse, in the church, very often, the term is understood as a synonym for Christian. All Christians are saints - which is true - but it isn’t a synonym.
The word literally means “holy ones.” We are God’s holy ones. It is what we actually are, and what we are called to be. It is what we are made objectively when we first believe, when Christ’s righteousness is given to us.
And it is what we are to become in this life as we grow in maturity and faith.
And notice, Paul calls them “saints and faithful brothers.” They are holy ones who are also faithful to Christ. He equates holiness with faithfulness to Christ.
And these are inseparable!
This is what a Christian is: a holy person, faithful to Christ, who because they are in Christ, as Paul says here, are part of the family of God with all the holy and faithful people in Christ.
They were brothers and sisters in that church, and Paul and Timothy were their brothers.
In Christ, our identity is tied to our family, but not our family by blood. Our family by faith.
And as a family, we are called to be holy and faith-ful.
Please note that this is not an especially sanctified class of Christians Paul is addressing. A Christian - made objectively holy because of Christ’s work - is a faithful Christian - faithful to Christ as we work out our salvation through obedience to Him.
This is what a Christian is, and you either are or you aren’t a Christian.
So you either are holy and faithful, or you aren’t a Christian.
Now, this doesn’t mean we won’t struggle with sin. I have news: we will.
It doesn’t mean we won’t fail and be overtaken by temptation and fall into sin: we will.
This is why the book of Hebrews says we strive for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Note - those who don’t strive for holiness will not see the Lord.
But striving doesn’t mean we stroll through life because it’s easy to be holy and faithful.
It means we pursue it through our struggles and our failures.
You see, our assurance of salvation is not in our holiness, because then none of us could be assured. Because we all fail. No, it is in our striving. It isn’t about perfection, it’s about the want to.
Do we want to be holy people who are faithful to Christ?
Which is why I thank God, it is not up to us. Because God still does the work in us.
Which is why Paul blesses the Colossians by saying: “grace to you, and peace, from God our Father.”
Again, God our Father. We are, as children of God, family. We are united.
And we are a family who continually needs and receives God’s grace.
It is by grace we are made holy when we first believe, and it is by grace that we can strive to be holy and faithful.
It is by grace we can work out our own salvation, because it is by grace that God works it in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
Are we relying on God for this?
If we’re not, we won’t have the peace Paul talks about here.
Paul wanted the Colossians to have that grace, and the peace that comes from it.
And he believed they had that grace.
Look at what he says next:
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,
Paul thanked God when he prayed for them. He thanked God for the grace He showed them and the grace He was working in them.
Because Paul had heard about all God was doing through them.
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,
First, notice that Paul says in verse 2 that God is our Father, and then says He is the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s do that same math - that makes Jesus our brother.
In fact, our identity as a family is because of our brother Jesus. He is our brother. And He is the Messiah.
But He is also Lord.
Here is where our faithfulness comes in. We are to be faithful to Him by living with Him as our Lord.
⬇️The Bible tells us that Christ is not ashamed to call us brothers and sisters. We can’t be ashamed to call Him our brother. We can’t be ashamed to live like He did, to strive for holiness like He did.
We cannot be ashamed to show Him forth in our lives.
And how do we do that?
Faith and love.
Paul believed that God was working grace through these believers, because he had heard of their faith in Christ and their love for all the holy ones of God. For the whole family of the universal church made up of all true believers.
⬇️These are important themes for Paul in his writings: faith and love.
We saw Paul tie these in in 1 Corinthians.
Here Paul talks about faith in Christ Jesus.
Do you know what this faith is? It is actually the same word as “faithfulness” - like Paul just spoke about the “faithful” brothers and sisters in Colossae.
Because, you see, there is no faith without faithfulness.
Because Paul is not talking about their faith, as in he believes they are truly regenerate and believe in Christ. He believes that, but the faith is like the love he talks about here.
It is a virtue that is evident based on the lives of these brethren. Their faithfulness, shows forth their faith.
He has heard about their faith and love. It was evident to whoever saw it and who told it to Paul.
And Paul was so thankful to God for it.
⬇️I am so thankful to God for all of you, my family in Christ. I am so thankful, because I see your faith and love in action - it is the encouragement that keeps me loving what I do.
It encourages me because it shows our obedience to our Lord.
And this is most evident in how you all love me, and love each other.
Paul thanks God here for the love these Christians had for all the holy ones of God. For every member of the family of God.
But this isn’t just Paul’s preference. This isn’t something he deems as important.
What was Christ’s commandment to His disciples the night before He died?
That they love each other.
And if they kept that commandment, He said that would show that they love Him.
And if they kept His commandment and loved each other and Him, He said they would abide in His love. He said that the Father would love them and He would love them if they loved Him by loving each other.
Let’s do more math. That means loving each other is how we love God, and it is a big part of how God shows us love.
This is how the family of God loves each other.
And that is how we are faithful. That is how we live unashamed of Christ our brother. Because loving each other as commanded, reveals Christ to the world. When we love each other like He loved us, He said that all people would know that we are His disciples.
Paul is laying out what a church is supposed to be here. He is encouraging them because he has heard of their evident faithfulness to Christ and their love for each other. He is establishing that they are living out the truth.
Because he is going to address some of the problems. And he wants them to know that they are doing so much right.
They had the faith.
They had the love.
And they had the hope.
Look at what he says:
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.
Hope.
We spoke about this last week. About the final promise that God is yet to keep, and that we are to always be looking to - the return of our Brother and our Lord.
Paul says this hope results in the faith and love.
And Paul ties these three in in multiple letters.
Faith and love, go with hope.
But understand our hope. It isn’t hope like the world hopes. It isn’t a strong wish for something to happen.
No! Our hope is something we can expect with confidence. Because it is promised by God.
Just like our striving for holiness is His work in us by grace, so too our hope is in His loving hands.
Paul says it is laid up for them in heaven. And it is laid up for us in heaven. Because it is Christ’s work.
Our hope is in His hands - the hands that are nail scarred to prove His faithfulness to us.
But notice - and this is communicated by Paul way better here than I could last week - but that faith or faithfulness and that love - those virtues worked out in real time right now - they are grounded in the hope that is in Christ’s hands.
Paul gives thanks to God that they are living out their faith and love, and he says they do it because of the hope that is awaiting them.
Now is lived in light of then.
Brothers and sisters, our lives need to be lived now in light of then, because our “then” is assured.
How do we know?
Look at the whole verse. Verse 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,
The Colossians lived out the truth of the Gospel - the faith, love, and hope. The truth of the full Gospel that includes the fact that Jesus is coming again
As I said last week, the promise God is yet to keep is part of the Gospel. It is part of the truth that has saved us and continues to save us and will yet save us.
This truth has made us holy and makes us holy - and will make us completely holy in that day.
And this is why preaching this series that is so focused on Christ is exactly what we need.
Because our greatest need - all of us - is the truth of the Gospel.
Because: whether you walked in here an atheist, or a new Christian, or a mature Christian who has been following Christ for decades - what you need, is what I need, and what we all need: Christ. His Gospel. His truth.
We need the Gospel. The whole world needs the Gospel. The world doesn’t know they need it. They certainly don’t want it.
But they need it. And we have it.
So we have to live it.
Which is why Paul calls it 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,
The Gospel bears fruit in the world.
Remember, this is Christ’s church - every church is and the whole church is - and it is His to build.
Christ builds His church in number as the Gospel goes forth and people both hear it, and see it in our lives, and so believe it.
This has always been God’s plan.
⬇️A few weeks ago, I said the Creation Mandate and the Great Commission are the same.
What’s the Creation Mandate? God told the first people - who were holy and perfectly in the image of God - to go and be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
God desired that the world be filled with His image bearers more and more.
But His plan all along was to do that through the Gospel.
Which is why the language Paul uses here in this verse uses the same imagery as Genesis 1:28 and the Creation Mandate.
He says that the Gospel is “in the whole world bearing fruit and increasing.”
The Gospel is, according to Paul, what is fruitful, and multiplying, and filling the earth.
Because it is those born of faith in the Gospel that are increasing or multiplying and bearing fruit in all the world.
It is by restoring people to the image of God - making them true holy ones of God - that the Gospel is increasing and bearing fruit in the world.
It is the Gospel that does this.
Which is why it must be preached to the ends of the earth and why wherever the church goes in the world - it is there to make disciples according to the Word of the Lord.
The Great Commission says to go and make disciples of all nations, by teaching them to observe all that Christ has commanded.
He grows us into His image through the Word of truth and our faithfulness to it - and especially our love for each other, because that’s what He commanded.
The Gospel continues to increase and bear fruit in us even after we believe.
I actually think this would be better translated “the Gospel which comes to you.” Not only would that be more faithful to the original Greek here, but the fact is that the Gospel hasn’t come to us, like it’s done its work and now moves on.
It still comes to us.
And those whose faith is in Christ and who are His holy ones - it comes to us and bears fruit in us from the day we believe and it never stops.
Because Christ also builds His church in faith, and in hope, and in love - through the Gospel that has come to us and still comes to us.
It comes to us in Word in the holy Scriptures. This truth is where faith is found. This is where love is found. This is where holiness and the “want to” for holiness is found.
Because it bears witness to Jesus.
And the Gospel - and the love, and the hope and the faith that come with it - the Gospel came to us physically in the person of Christ.
In the Messiah Who fulfilled every promise of God.
In came the Son of God.
And not in the “Jesus is my brother” sense I spoke about earlier. That is absolutely true. But I am talking about the fact that Christ is the Son of God, as in, the second Person of the Holy Trinity.
God - the eternal, perfectly holy God - He came as one of us and had to strive for that holiness in the flesh, just like we do.
⬇️The only exception is that He never failed.
I have. I still do. And I will again.
He never did.
And yet, He took on our failures. He took on our sin - our unholiness - and He went to the cross to take on the punishment a holy God has to give to the unholy.
And He gave us His holiness.
And to prove beyond a doubt that was what He did, He did more. He rose on the third day to show us that holiness leads to glory - to resurrection - to eternal life. His holiness gives us all of that.
Now, it needs to bear fruit in us. It needs to bear fruit through us. Through our faithfulness. Through our love. Through our hope.
That is how the Gospel will bear fruit and increase in the whole world.
That is how the Gospel will bear fruit and increase in our church.
That is how the Gospel will bear fruit and increase in each of us.
This is why we need the Gospel.
And the Gospel is, as Paul says, the grace of God in “truth”. In verse 5, Paul goes so far as to call it THE truth.
⬇️Oh, how the world hates truth.
Here’s the controversial part.
The very notion of objective truth is obscene to our modern culture. Because it is so exclusive. It excludes anything and everything that is not the truth.
But our culture says: “What I want to be is my own reality and you can’t tell me otherwise.” This is why the world is in shambles and getting worse before our eyes.
In accepting all these “truths” - it really denies truth.
It denies THE truth.
And that fails, every time, because there is truth.
And the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the truth.
And you know what, it is obscene. The idea that the perfectly holy God would take on flesh and live perfectly and still be killed by sinful humans and take the wrath of God… is utterly obscene.
But it’s true.
And once we believe that truth, what is obscene is living like it isn’t true.
Are we living the truth?
Because that is how the Gospel will bear fruit and increase. In us, in our church, and as Paul says: in the whole world.
This is the Gospel he wanted the Colossians to live out. Because it is the truth they received because others lived it out.
Paul says the Colossians heard the Gospel, and understood the grace of God in truth.
He says:
just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf
It would seem that Paul likely heard of this church - and their problems - from Epaphras who probably preached the Gospel to these people, and was still laboring for them.
Let’s jump ahead to chapter 4, verse 12. In Paul’s closing salutation, he says:
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.
Epaphras prayed that the Gospel of truth would continue to come to them and strengthen their faith and their love and their hope.
That it would continue to bear fruit.
And it was bearing fruit as Paul wrote this.
It was increasing and bearing fruit in them and in the whole world, because it was the truth, back to chapter 1 verse 7.
The truth:
just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf
Epaphras was a fellow servant of Paul and Timothy and the Colossians. The word is actually “slave.”
Paul often refers to himself as a slave of Christ.
Why? Because as those who have received the truth and believe the truth of the Gospel - we are beholden to Christ. He is our Brother, but He is our Lord, as Paul pointed out in verse 3.
So we need to serve Him, just as He came to serve by living righteously and laying down His life.
That is how He loved us.
We are to do the same. And we can, because we are no longer salves to sin, we are slaves of Christ.
And because that’s how we love each other.
Epaphras brought the Colossians the word of truth. They then live out that truth through their faith, love, and hope by being faithful to Christ.
And they stand mature, and assured, because of their striving for holiness through their faith, love, and hope.
And it is Epaphras who has seen this faith, love, and hope in action - who has seen them work it out in real time - and who has reported it to Paul.
He says:
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.
That is the love that we are commanded to. It is the love that shows the world Whose we are - it’s the love that bears the fruit of the Gospel and increases it.
And that love is the work of the Spirit.
We are right back to the unending grace of God doing in us and through us what He commands of us.
And because of this love He works in us, the faith and the hope is worked through us.
Our faith is shown - it is manifested - in our faithfulness to Christ.
And that is because we love Him, and because our hope is in Him.
Once again, as we saw last week, Paul wrote to the Thessalonians about the hope of Christ’s return and how they should live in light of that, and what does He say?
He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.
First and foremost, our faithfulness is rooted in Christ’s faithfulness.
Like our love is rooted in His love for us.
Like our holiness is because He has given us His holiness.
Our faith is His work in us, and He… is... faithful.
So If we believe that He is faithful, and that He will do it, we will see the fruit of that.
We will see the increase and the fruit of the Gospel affecting our own lives and that of the whole world.
This is what Paul said to a relatively small church in a relatively small city.
To a church that was full of just regular people who were only different because of Christ.
To a church that was living out the truth of the Gospel but who always needed to strive to live it out more and more - to strive for more holiness - for a greater conformity to Christ and to His Word - to love more, to be faithful more, to hope more.
This is what Paul said to a church just like us.
And he said so much in this introduction and opening greeting. He says it so simply.
It’s simple, that we don’t need complicated application.
Because we are called to live a simple truth.
Here it is: Christ did it. Christ is doing it. Christ will do it.
That’s the Gospel.
If we would always remember this simple truth, it would be easier to live the simple truth.
Because it isn’t easy to live the simple truth.
Because so often, we aren’t looking for Christ to do it.
What does that mean, practically?
It means we need to strive for holiness, seek to love, and be faithful…
Which means we need more of the Gospel.
Which means we need more of Christ.
Let’s clear room in our lives for more of Christ so He will do it.
⬇️I am convinced of another simple truth.
The more we have of something, the more of it we want. That’s why Paul wanted the Gospel to keep coming to these Christians.
That’s why we need the Gospel to keep coming to us.
Because the more we have it, the more we’ll want it.
This is true of physical possessions. My greatest weaknesses are books and guitars. The more I have, the more I want, the more I look at deals even though I’m not going to buy any more.
But I’m talking about the fact that this happens with our minds and our spirits.
We want more of what we already have, because having it focuses our minds and spirits on it.
This is why, when we binge watch a TV show, we will wind up thinking about that TV show when we’re not in front of the TV.
Or when we get addicted to Social Media, we have an unconscious need to check Social Media. It’s why we - without even thinking about it - check our phones non-stop. It’s an addiction stronger than nicotine.
Even a game on our phone can do this to us. I had to take Candy Crush off my phone years ago because I would find myself thinking of lining things up in groups of three when I didn’t even have my phone in my hand.
It happens with our hobbies. Be it golf, or video games, or watching movies, or working out. The more we do it, the more we want to do it. The more we think about. The more we kind of become about “our thing.”
It is the focus and the doing that keep us wanting it.
And that changes us - and makes us want it more and more.
And yet, we all too often don’t focus on the Gospel like that. We don’t focus on God’s truth like that. We don’t focus on Christ like that.
Which is why, we wind up not even noticing that we don’t. Because since we don’t, we don’t want to, so when we don’t, we don’t miss it.
I want to challenge you during this series through the book of Colossians.
Decide whether or not you want more of Christ. Whether or not you want the Gospel to bear more fruit and increase your faith, increase in your life, and increase in the world through you.
And if you do, then have it.
What do I mean?
We have precious little time in our days. That’s what it feels like, doesn’t it?
We get to the end of the week, and so many things “we had to get done” didn’t get done.
But I think we’d all be hard pressed to defend against the fact that what we wanted, we did.
If we all sat down and took a serious inventory and counted up the time we spent on our hobbies, and watching TV, and on our phones - and we saw what we really wanted - I would bet that we would - every single one of us - be embarrassed by how much more we want these things than we want Christ.
Because we seek them more than Christ. We go after them more. Because we want them more.
The proof is in the pudding, as they say.
So here’s the challenge: focus on Christ… more than anything else.
Read your Bible, and read it a lot, multiple times a day, until you can’t possibly read it as much as you want to.
Have the Bible in your hand more often than your phone.
Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.
Pray. And pray a lot. Pray alone. Pray with your family. Pray with the church. Pray until you can’t possibly pray as much as you want to.
Get involved. Serve. A lot. Join a small group. Start a small group. Come to every event. Have church be such a big part of your life that you can’t possibly be as involved as you want to be.
In other words: Fill you mind, fill your spirit - fill your life - with Christ. Fill yourself with so much of Christ that you can’t possibly have as much of Him as you want.
Because then you’ll realize you have Him more than you can ever want.
Seek Him more than you seek anything. Spend more time with Him that watching TV. Spend more time with Him that on your phone. Spend more time with Him than on your hobbies.
And you will find yourself focused on Him even when your Bible isn’t in front of you, even when you’re not praying, and even when you’re not at church.
The more we have of Him, the more we’ll want of Him.
Christ will be all, and in all.
It’s simple, but not easy.
But we have the choice.
Like Christ had a choice. And He chose us.
