Sermon Tone Analysis

As he often does, St. Paul begins this letter to the Christians in Colossae by giving thanks to God for them.

This is a good pattern for us to follow.

We encounter many people in our lives from relatives, to schools, to work, to neighborhoods and as Christians, fellow members of our congregation as well as other Christian congregations.

Undoubtedly, we have different opinions of those individuals and groups of people.

Do they irritate us?

Do they frustrate what we are trying to do?

Do we find it hard to get along with them?

In Galatians, St. Paul had warned against fighting amongst ourselves.

(NIV)

13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free.

But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.

14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

James had noted this sin as well: (NIV)

1 What causes fights and quarrels among you?

Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill.

You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight.

You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

On the other hand, Paul begins this letter commending these Christians to God for some very important attributes: We do well to thank God for the fruit of the Spirit we see in others rather than focus on their short comings and sins.

Faith in the Lord Jesus.

Love they had for all of God’s people.

The fact that the gospel was bearing fruit among them.

He also notes that Jesus’ parable of the mustard seed was coming true.

That even though the church would start small, it would become very large.

History has shown the spread of the gospel throughout the world and how it continues to spread to peoples who were once outside of God’s kingdom such as in Vietnam.

Paul heard about this by way of mouth or letters.

Who can we learn about how the gospel is spreading throughout the world?

Our synod regularly publicizes what we are doing in missions through Forward in Christ, special mailings, and the internet.

Other Christian denominations are certainly involved in spreading the gospel as well.

In verses 7 and 8 he reflects on whom God had used to bring them the gospel.

Whom did God use to proclaim the gospel to you in addition to your family members?

Hopefully, we all have fond memories of the pastors that God used in our lives to nurture us in the word in spite of their own sinful quirks and idiosyncrasies.

I appreciate how as members of the WELS we can often talk about pastors that we know mutually.

Rev. Mutterer, Rev. Unnasch, Rev. Schmeling, Rev. Strobel, Rev. Straseske, Rev. Heins to name just a few.

Epaphras also spoke highly of the Christians in Colossae.

We do well to speak well of our fellow Christians to others.

Who was Epaphras?

Epaphras was a native of Colossae and was undoubtedly one of Paul’s converts.

Paul assigned him to preach to the Colossians and in the neighboring cities of Laodicea and Hierapolis.

When Paul wrote the letters to the Colossians and Philemon he was in prison, and Epaphras had been imprisoned with him.

It was through Epaphras that Paul knew of the problems in Colossae about which he spoke in his letter.

Epaphras was obviously held in very high esteem by Paul, who referred to him as his “fellow servant” and as a “servant of Jesus Christ.”

These were appellations that Paul used very rarely and only for his most honored companions (another being Timothy).

In his letter to the Colossians Paul praised the work of Epaphras in the three cities.

Losch, R. R. (2008).

In All the People in the Bible: An A–Z Guide to the Saints, Scoundrels, and Other Characters in Scripture (p.

107).

Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

Losch, R. R. (2008).

In All the People in the Bible: An A–Z Guide to the Saints, Scoundrels, and Other Characters in Scripture (p.

107).

Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

So Paul thanks the Lord for these people and their faith and love.

He also prays for them to improve.

What does he ask for?

Know God’s Will

Some people seek to know God’s will by extra biblical means.

They look for signs or what the majority thinks.

We need look no further than the Bible.

A quick search of the Bible shows what God intends for us.

God wants all men to be saved and he wants all those who are saved to live for him in thankfulness using the gifts he has given us.

St. Paul also summarizes it in this way:

Live a life worthy of the Lord

bear fruit in every good work

grow in the knowledge of God

be strengthened so you can have great endurance and patience

give joyful thanks to the Father

Application: We may have many goals in our lives.

As Christians, I would pray that our number one priority is to model what it is that St. Paul thanked God for in their lives and prayed that they would improve on.

Why?

Because he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and we have redemption — the forgiveness of sins.

Have you ever been rescued from danger?

I drove my car into a snow bank at our home in North Dakota.

Within minutes five men from the congregation were there to push me out.

I was somewhat embarrassed by thankful that they had rescued me.

We might be rescued from an accident, a fire, an attack, or the effects of disease.

Sometimes we are embarrassed because of how we got into that situation.

But in the end we are grateful and want to thank those who rescued us.

At one time were were so completely under the power of our spiritual enemies that we desparately needed rescuing.

We may even have been ashamed that we go into such a situation.

St. Paul calls it the dominion of darkness.

What does this mean?

But we are no longer in the dark because Jesus has rescued us.

We know how he did this and should rejoice in it every day.

Without his work, we would be be in darkness forever.

But we have been rescued and can now live for him in the ways described above.