Hope has a Name

Bible Passage: Colossians 1:24–29

Intro

Kickin off summer of hope

Summer of Hope Family Road Trip Curriculum

Talk about how amazing VBS was!

One of the things that I told the kids the first day of VBS was that you can decide this week whether you want to have fun or not.

A lot of the kids had a blast, but I had one kid in particular that decided they’re not gonna have a good time today. I had 2 to 3 games in a day, interactive lessons, breakfast, snacks, prizes, and all sorts of stuff, but this kid was just not having it. The environment was the same for the kid who was having a blast and the kid who had a pity party, but some people have these little beliefs in their mind that will rob them from the opportunity of a good time.

The environment was the same, but the experience was different because the mindset was different.

And here is why that matters: what you believe internally will shape how you experience reality externally. We literally have algorithms on our phone that are designed uniquely for us to give us the information on how to perceive our reality and we believe it. Conservatives don’t get liberal

That is not just true for VBS. That is true for suffering. That is true for marriage. That is true for sickness. That is true for church. That is true for your relationship with God.

Some of us are not hopeless because Jesus is absent. We are hopeless because we are believing lies that make Jesus seem absent.

We believe things like:

“If God loved me, I would not be going through this.”

“If I were a better Christian, I would feel closer to Him.”

“My past disqualifies me from being used by God.”

“I have to fix this on my own.”

“Hope will come when my circumstances finally change.”

And Paul writes Colossians to pull those lies up by the roots, and plant new seeds of hope that they may take root in our hearts.

This leads me into our topic of discussion today, is this idea of the little things that we believe that rob us of hope and that real hope is a name. DJ has us going through a summer of hope till the end of July

He has me leading off this series, which to me is a new thing. I’ve never been a lead off hitter, i was always typically in the 2,3, or 5 spot in the batter line up.

We’re starting in the letter of Paul to the Colossians, which is one of my favorite letters in the new testament, mainly because it center on defending the supremacy and the sufficiency of Christ and to me, this is one of my favorite letters for that reason.

Paul is writing this letter to a church in his first inprisonment in Rome around 61-62 AD, that he likely hasn’t been to in a city called Colossae.

There is this guy named Epaphras, who likely came to know Paul during their time in Ephesus together and Epaphras is the minister in this town Colossae who reports back to Paul some of the issues that he’s seeing in Colossae and the surrounding towns.

As Paul is writing this letter, he addresses the heresies or the false teachings that go against against the early teachings of Jesus and the apostles.

#1. What is spiritual is good and what is material is bad: Colossians 1:15-20

#2. One must follow ceremonies, rituals, and restrictions in order to be saved or perfected: Colossians 2:11, 16-22, 3:11

#3. One must deny the body and live in strict asceticism: Colossians 2:18-23

#4. Angels must be worshiped: Col 2:18

#5. Christ couldn’t be both human and God: Col 1:15-20, 2:2-3

#6. One must obtain a certain secret knowledge in order to be saved or perfected and this isn’t available to everyone: Col 2:2, 18

#7. One must adhere to human wisdom, traditions, and philosophies: Col 2:4, 8-10; 3:15-17

#8. It is best to combine aspects of several religions: Col 2:10

#9. There is no reason to live a moral life: Col 3:1-11

Collectively, these false teachings—encompassing legalism, mysticism, asceticism, and early forms of Gnosticism

Some people were saying you needed Jesus plus religious rituals. Others were saying you needed Jesus plus spiritual experiences. Others were saying you needed Jesus plus harsh treatment of the body. Others were saying you needed Jesus plus secret knowledge. Others were lowering Jesus by denying the fullness of who He is.

But the reality is Jesus plus nothing is our everything.

all of these teachings served to diminish the supremacy, sufficiency, and ultimately the glory of Jesus Christ.

These false teachers threatened the church by quietly spreading the lie that Jesus alone was not enough: For their salvation, their joy, their peace, what have you.

It would be easy to pick on the Colossians and say well, “I don’t celebrate holidays to make sure I’m saved” or “I don’t worship angels” or “I believe Christ is God” or “I believe it’s important to live a morally good life”, but personally I believe, if we take the awesome glasses off on our perspective of the current state of America, we are not far off from some similar beliefs that the Colossians have, it just looks different.

We face these false teachings in our mind every day that contradict the promises of God in His word and when facing severe trials like cancer, divorce, poverty, depression, or even our simple comfortabilities getting stripped away and our actions display the fruit of what we actually believe.

but when we choose to anchor our faith in the truth that Christ is all supreme over everything: our politicians, our bank accounts, our addictions, our divorce, our career, and every other little g god

That He is all sufficient over our: anxieties, fears, loneliness, doubt, restlessness, jealousy, grief

That He is all the more glorious that our: accomplishments, numbers on a spreadsheet, family name, our legacy,

That is why Paul spends so much of Colossians exalting Jesus.

He says Jesus is the image of the invisible God. He is the firstborn over all creation. All things were created through Him and for Him. He is before all things. In Him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church. In Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.

Paul is not giving them random theology. He is saying, “If you want hope that survives suffering, confusion, false teaching, pressure, and fear, then you need a bigger view of Jesus.”

We can have a confident expectation that God is going to continue to come through for us because His character is faithful!

Hope is not just a feeling. Hope is Jesus living in us and leading us! Day in and day out!

Here is our Repeatable Truth: Hope isn’t a concept to admire. Hope is a Christ to know.

READ Colossians 1:24-29 , then PRAY

Truth 1: The "Meaningless Tragedy" Lie vs. Redemptive Suffering (Colossians 1:24-25)

The Colossian Lie: The false teachers taught that anything physical or material was inherently evil, which is a straight lie against the creation story that God said it was good after He created us, but because of that belief, they were also forced to believe that God wanted nothing to do with their human suffering.

I think we fall into a similar trap today

The lie says suffering means God has abandoned me.

"My suffering means God has abandoned me. This job loss, this heartbreak, this chronic pain is just a meaningless tragedy, and God is nowhere to be found in it." We can ask ourselves in the midst of pain, “Where is God at in all this?”

The “I must have done something wrong to deserve this” type of inner-dialogue.

That statement is just not true. Jesus said matthew 5:45 “so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

By that logic, nothing wrong should have happened to Jesus, but He took the most painful punishment, yet he was still sinless!

But I know people on the other side of pain often say that God taught them something they wouldn’t have learned otherwise. God often speaks the loudest in our suffering!

The truth says suffering can become a place where Christ is displayed through me.

Paul says something that sounds almost offensive at first: “I rejoice in my sufferings.”

That does not mean Paul enjoys pain. That does not mean Paul is pretending that he’s having a grand ole time in the slammer making new friends, playing solitaire, doing push-ups, and drinking Hi-C.

There is a huge difference between meaningless pain and redemptive pain.

Meaningless pain says, “This has no purpose.”

Redemptive pain says, “I do not understand everything God is doing, but I know God is up to something.” Hope isn’t a concept to admire. Hope is a Christ to know.

Paul is suffering for the sake of the church. His imprisonment is not stopping the gospel; matter of fact, if it wasn’t for Paul being imprisoned probably wouldn’t be doing a sermon in Colossians right now. The very thing that looks like it should silence him is became his largest platform from which Christ is proclaimed, the literal Holy Bible.

Filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions

This phrase can sound confusing because it almost sounds like Paul is saying Jesus’ suffering was not enough. But that is not what he means.

Nothing is lacking in the saving power of Jesus’ death. The cross is complete. The atonement is finished. Salvation has been fully accomplished.

What is “lacking” is the ongoing display of Christ’s suffering love through His people. To love is to sacrifice, which is to suffer. The call of the christ-like life is to exemplify him by loving the Lord God with all you got and Love your neighbor as yourself. This should include suffering!

Illustration idea:

One of the greatest inspirations to me is seeing someone walk through cancer with faith, honesty, tears, and worship. They are not pretending it does not hurt. But they are showing the church that Jesus is worthy even there.

Application:

Some of you are walking through things you would have never chosen.

A diagnosis. A divorce. A broken family relationship. Financial pressure. A grief you still cannot explain. A season of loneliness. A battle in your mind that nobody else sees.

The lie says, “This proves God left you.”

But Colossians is saying Christ meets us, sustains us, and even display His love through us here.

Your suffering is not automatically meaningless because it is painful. In Christ, even suffering can become a place of hope because we know that in the midst of suffering, Christ overcame the world by conquering death and the grave, so that we might also do the same!

Truth 2: The "Exclusive Access" Lie vs. The Indwelling Christ (Colossians 1:26–28)

This is the heartbeat of this sermon series

The Colossian Lie: The false teachers claimed that closeness to God was a hidden secret reserved for a spiritual aristocracy. If you weren't initiated into their elite group and had this “special knowledge”, you were left out.

For them it was like getting the golden ticket for the chocolate factory.

The false teachers believed the way of salvation was incredibly complicated and only for a select few.

The false teachers loved the idea of mystery. They made spiritual life sound like an elite club.

“You need our knowledge.” “You need our experience.” “You need our rules.” “You need our secrets.”

This is still prevalent today with things like manifesting, crystals, meditation, affirmations, sage, or other new age practices

The Mental lie Today: "I don't have access or enough access to God's presence.

The lie says hope is hidden from ordinary people.

Closeness to God is for the pastors and the 'good' Christians, not me.

You can see me up here fired up and think I’m this guys who is who has it all together, but that is farthest from the truth. I’m one insecure dude who needs God’s grace everyday or I’d sincerely fall apart.

The bible says gifts come without repentance. There are mediocre preachers who live Christ-like and some phenomenal preachers who don’t practice what they preach. Just one google search and facebook post could tell you that.

But Paul takes their favorite word, “mystery,” and flips it upside down.

The mystery is not hidden anymore. The mystery is not reserved for the elite. The mystery is not locked away from ordinary people. The mystery has been revealed. And what is the mystery?

Christ in you, the hope of glory. What is this?

the hope of glory is not an abstract concept, a fleeting emotion, or mere wishful thinking,. Rather, it encompasses both a present day reality and an absolute guarantee of a future destiny.

1. The Present Reality: The Indwelling Christ The foundation of this hope is the transformative reality that today the risen Christ permanently makes His home inside the believer through the Holy Spirit. This means hope is a Person.

Romans 8:11 “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”

2. The Future Guarantee: Ultimate Salvation and Inheritance The word "glory" in this phrase points toward the future completion of God's plan. It is the confident, joyful expectation that believers will one day share completely in Christ's glory.

Ephesians 1:13 “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,”

Application:

This confronts the lie that says:

“God is close to people who have clean pasts, but not to me.” “God is close to people who know the Bible better, but not to me.” “God is close to people who do not struggle like I do, but not to me.”

But if you are in Christ, Paul says Christ is in you. Hope isn’t a concept to admire. Hope is a Christ to know.

You may feel weak, but Christ is in you. You may feel ashamed, but Christ is in you. You may feel anxious, but Christ is in you. You may feel spiritually unimpressive, but Christ is in you.

In the middle of a panic attack, you don't have to shout up to a distant heaven to find hope; hope is already living inside of you.

You do not have to jump through religious hoops to get to Jesus. If you have placed your faith in Him, the exact same power that raised Jesus from the dead has taken up permanent residence inside of your mortal body.

The Christian’s hope is not based on how close we feel to God today. The Christian’s hope is based on the fact that Christ has taken residence in us forever.

Paul says the aim is everyone mature in Christ. I’d argue maturity is about becoming the kind of person who lives a life like Jesus, in word and in action. Maturity is not becoming the kind of Christian people applaud, on Jesus way to the cross he didn’t get much of that.

Even in the midst of his journey to calvary it says in hebrews 12:2 “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Real hope is to look forward in the pain to the promised outcome.

Truth 3: The "Self-Reliance" Lie vs. The Energy of Christ (Colossians 1:29)

The Colossian Lie: The false teachers taught that you had to adhere to strict Jewish traditions, philosophies, and willpower to conquer your evil desires.

You had to work your way to the top! If you didn’t you would never get there.

Maybe it’s not the jewish traditions for us or greek philosophers that we feel we have to enslave ourselves to get right with God, but I definitely think this concept that I will only be approved by God when I’m performing at my best.

I have met a lot of high schoolers that will struggle to go to youth group because they don’t feel like they’re good enough to be there and can’t come because of their struggles.

God’s work in our lives isn’t even our credit, He gets all the glory , but often we end up believing.

The lie that says I have to fix myself by myself

I don’t know who said it first, but a quote Justin Bushong always says is “you don’t clean yourself before you get in the shower” He is the one who cleans us and prepares us!

But I will say that Paul does not describe ministry or the Christian life as passive. He says, “For this I toil, struggling…” Paul is most definitely not lazy.

He works. He labors. He struggles. He gives himself fully to the mission of Christ.But then he tells us the power source:

“with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.”

When paul uses the energy word he’s not talking about a caffeine rush or physical stamina, but uses it exclusively to refer to a superhuman power. God’s work is within him like dynamite

It’s His power! Not ours. He does what He wants through us powerfully with meekness!

Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

We have the power of God to reach the hearts of men for their eternities. To love the world by showing them that Hope isn’t a concept to admire. Hope is a Christ to know.

That is the difference between Christian effort and self-reliance.

Self-reliance says, “It all depends on me.” Christian faith says, “I am called to obey, but I am not the source of the power.”

The gospel does not call us to sit still and do nothing. But it also does not call us to white-knuckle our way into transformation.

It does call us to work hard, but in the trust that God’s grace is sufficient in our weakness.

2 Corinthians 12:9 “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

Application:

When we rely on our own strength to fight our life issues we will eventually burn out. The greatest compromise you can make in your mind is believing you are the source of your own hope.

You are invited to work hard at your healing

Make the call. Go to counseling. Open your Bible. Confess the sin. Ask for help. Change the habit. Have the conversation. Show up again.

But do not confuse obedience with self-salvation.

You are not the Savior and You are not the source of your own hope. Christ is.

The Christian life is not powered by positive thinking, emotional christian goosebumps, or human willpower. It is powered by the risen Christ working us!

Conclusion: Take Hold of Hope

In Closing: So what are the lies that you may be believing right now that are robbing you of hope? What is blocking you seeing through the lens of our living hope? This may sound like a cliche conversation, but maybe there is some evaluation that we need to face about the negativity we are consuming and the output it’s having in our minds.

Maybe the lie is: “My suffering is meaningless or its your fault.” But the truth says Christ can redeem it.

Maybe the lie is: “God is far away from me.” But the truth says Christ is in you.

Maybe the lie is: “I will never be a mature in my faith.” But the truth says the goal is everyone mature in Christ.

Maybe the lie is: “I have to fix myself by myself.” But the truth says Christ powerfully works within His people.

Circumstantial hope always collapses when circumstances change. But Kingdom hope is different. Kingdom hope has a name. His name is Jesus.

Hope isn’t a concept to admire. Hope is a Christ to know.

And Paul says this Christ is not distant from His people. Christ is living within you, the hope of glory.

So know Him. Trust Him. Suffer with Him. Walk with Him. Depend on Him. Proclaim Him. And by His power, keep going.

Philippians 3:10 “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,”

That is the invitation.

Not just to know about hope. Not just to talk about hope. Not just to admire hope from a distance.

But to know Christ Himself. Because hope is not just something Jesus gives.

Hope is who Jesus is.