The Main Character, Part 1

Intro Part 1 - Glad to be here

Intro Part 2 - Stories

I love stories.

They can entertain. Story of Greg?

They can instruct. They can encourage.

Most deeply, they can provide an explanation for who we are, where we come from, where we are going.

The dominant “metanarrative” today is basically this:

Highly-evolved pond scum.

God exists to serve our purpose. Moralistic therapeutic deism.

The Bible is not just a collection of random stories. It is one big story. And if we want to be effective in making an impact in today’s culture, we need to be able to tell the story that God wants us to tell.

With that, let’s turn to the book of Colossians.

Paul is writing to a new church to encourage them, but also to help them understand the true Gospel.

Let’s read Colossians 1:1-2

Intro Part 3 - Colossians

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.

Paul - Jewish religious leader, turned Christian, apostle, didn’t visit Colossae

Timothy - Paul’s associate

This is a letter, written around 60-62 AD, so about 30 years after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascencion back to Haven. Possibly/probably written around the same time as Ephesians and Philemon.

To:

Saints: faithful brothers and sisters → you are a saint…and party of a family

In Colossae

Not the major city

How’d the gospel get there?

Discontinuity - time, language, we’re probably not facing the exact same issues that church faced

Continuity - but we are connected to them by virtue of the fact that they were believers in Jesus Christ. And the great thing about the Gospel is that it unites people, not only from different geographic locations, but even across time. And these saints to whom the book of Colossians was written to long ago will worship alongside us, praising God throughout eternity.

Grace & peace

Paul’s main point: Keep Jesus at the Center

What you believe

Your attitudes and actions as well

It seems that the Colossian church was facing some false teaching, and we’ll get into the exact nature of that later on down the road.

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.

The Colossians’ faith led to Prayerful Gratitude

“When we pray for you”

Paul is diligent in prayer

You don’t have to know someone personally to pray for them.

You don’t have to know all that’s going on in someone’s life to pray for them. This passage, Ephesians 1 & 3, Philippians 1 – all great examples of how Paul was praying for people

Who are you praying for? And how are you praying for them?

Thankful for your faith and love

These individual Colossians probably didn’t think they were doing anything overly special. They were probably just going about their lives, living for and loving Jesus as best they could. But that led to a reputation that led to Paul gratefully praying for them, and we still benefit from their faith today.

Are you living your life in such a way that someone out there is thanking God for you?

I trust that many of you are. I haven’t gotten to know you too well yet. But I know I’m already grateful for you. For Jerry. Ben. Our Bible study teachers. Those who lead us in song every week. I’m grateful to be part of what God is already doing here at New Hope Baptist Church.

Gospel-centered lives lead to grateful prayers.

The Colossians’ faith was part of worldwide Gospel growth.

Was probably started when Paul was in Ephesus about ten years earlier. Epaphras traveled to Colossae and shared the Gospel. And people responded.

Map/timeline

My first idea for today is that your life, your story, is part of a bigger story.

Paul commends them for their faith, but he’s also reminding them that the Gospel story is bigger than just God and the people of Colossae. It’s not just you. The Gospel is spreading all around the world.

The Christian faith isn’t just a story of you and God. Or this church. Or this city. Or this country. Or all the people currently alive. Or what we can see. The Bible is the story of how God has shown Himself to people across time and space, and tells us that there are things that exist beyond time and beyond what we can see.

I think we know this. But it’s good to be reminded of it.

Story of New Hope Baptist here.

I’m aware that as I take this role, I’m stepping into a story. The story of a church that edified the saints and shared the Gospel for nearly 50 years.

Many of you have been part of that story for a long time. And I’m thankful for each of you.

Some of you are newer to being part of New Hope’s story. And I’m grateful for you as well.

The Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting begins tomorrow. Like any group composed of fallen, if redeemed, humans, the SBC has its issues. But it’s great to be part of what God is doing across the United States and around the world. And sometimes we need to be reminded of that. It’s easy to look around and see nothing but doom and gloom. But by the grace of God, the Gospel continues to take root and spread.

Some SBC stats here?

Salt Network church plants.

Chaplains

Missionaries around the world.

Sometimes we see this echoed in movies. This is Bilbo or Frodo in the Hobbit and LOTR realizing there’s a bigger world outside the Shire. Or Neo taking the red pill. Or the MCU characters realizing that they’re aliens, or a quantum universe.

Bible scholars have proposed that it can be helpful to think of the Bible as telling one big story in four/six phases:

Creation - Genesis 1. God created. It was good.

Fall - Genesis 3. Free will. Sin. We do the same.

Redemption - God making a way to restore the relationship through Jesus.

Consummation - Jesus will come again. New heaven, new earth.

So again, one thing Paul reinforces to the Colossians, and that I’d like to remind you today is that your life, your faith, your walk with God, is part of a much bigger story than you may realize.

Application

Be faithful in praying for other people.

As God enables you, be the kind of person who other people thank God for.

Share the Gospel. You never know what impact small moments of faithfulness will have.