#2 The Gospel Truth in a Postmodern World

Truth. We live in a world and a country that has confounded the basic notions of Truth. In the 1900s a thought movement came about known as modernism. This modernist thinking divided truth into two realms, Facts and Values. It was argued that Facts were facts and used by Engineers to construct things like bridges or Doctors and Researchers in the science and medical fields. While other areas of truth, such as morality and theology, were more subjective and socially constructed as they lacked objective truth. While this was a vast departure from the previous 6000 years of human history, but we were assured at the time that this split would at least leave the Universe a coherent system and structure.

The Late Francis Shaeffer stated the following about this split, “If you look at the modern age you see the problem with this division between fact and value in the so-called two-story house. The first story of the house is the story of facts modern people said, and the second story was the story of value or opinion. But this two-story view of truth won’t work. You can’t say that 2+2=4 is categorically a different statement than God was in Christ Incarnate.”

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a new thought movement began in America called Postmodernism. Postmodernism calls into question the very foundation of fact and value stating that all truth is an illusion and socially constructed to oppress. And we now see this new view taking hold and infiltrating the very Facts themselves.

Each morning I listen to a podcast called The Briefing by Albert Mohler the President of Southern Baptist Seminary and Boyd College. Dr. Mohler talks about major news items from a Christian WorldView. He mentions an article that piqued my interest on Wednesday so I did a little more research. The story is about the Seattle School District and how they are creating a new math curriculum because Math is oppressive. Seattle Public School is right now working on a new framework to “re-humanize” mathematics. As an example of their work they show us examples of this oppression in the following example: “Who gets to say if an answer is right?” In order for someone to say that something is right or wrong, it implies that a person must be in authority and exercise that authority which in and of itself is oppressive. They are now beginning to question even the notion that 2+2=4 as that statement in and of itself is oppressive.

It turns out that Francis Shaeffer and other Christian thinkers at the time were prophetic as we are living the ever-increasing madness of this age. Fear not, the bible has the answer.

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Scripture describes the gospel with several phrases. calls it “the gospel of the grace of God.” designates it “the gospel of His Son,” and “the gospel of Christ.” refers to it as “the gospel of God,” characterizes it as “the gospel of the glory of Christ,” as “the gospel of peace,” and as the “eternal gospel.”

The gospel is also described as the “word of truth” (), or the “message of truth” (). Those descriptions have given rise to what used to be a common expression “the gospel truth.” People used that phrase when they want to stress their sincerity so that what they say will be believed.

Although people often use that expression flippantly, there is a real gospel truth. Gospel (v. 5) is the Greek word εὐαγγέλιον euangelion, from which we derive the English word evangelize. It literally means, “good news.” It was used often in classical Greek to speak of the report the good news (euangelion) of victory (nike) brought back from a battle. The Gospel is the good news of Jesus’ victory over Satan, sin, and death. It is also the good news that we, too, can triumph eternally over those enemies through Him.

Let’s now dive into the text and see what truths God has given us here.

The Gospel Truth is Received by Faith (3-4a): “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”

It is clear that Paul admires the faith of the Colossian church. He admires their true and continuing saving faith in Christ Jesus, which had separated from sin to God, but notice how Paul does not flatter the Colossians. Instead, he gives thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul is acknowledging that God is owed the thanks for saving faith is a gift solely from God.

The next phrase here is rendered well in the ESV and the NIV as it says when we pray for you. Some version translates this section as always praying for you. But the sentiment Paul was expressing is that he did not always pray for the Church at Colossae, but every time he did pray for them he expressed his thanks to God for their faith in Christ Jesus.

The next phrase here is Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus. I want to focus in on the word Faith as used here.

The greek word for faith here is πίστις pistis and means to be persuaded that something is true and to trust in it. It is used 244 times in 228 separate verses in the New Testament, each time meaning faith. But this word means more than merely agreeing with something. The root word of Pistis is peitho which means to obey. It is no accident this word is used here as it carries with it a deeper meaning than simple faith, what Paul and the Holy Spirit are saying here is that it is faith unto obedience.

Obedience and belief are equated throughout the New Testament. I will give you some references that you can check later if you would like.

The bible also speaks of the obedience of faith

You see biblical faith is not merely a leap of faith. It is not blind faith. It is a faith rooted in the Fact of Christ Jesus, and grounded in the evidence of the Bible and the examples of the faithful men and women who came before us. says that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Faith gives assurance and certainty about unseen realities.

No discussion of Faith would be complete if we did touch on two more aspects:

Repentance of our sin

And Faith’s Object: Jesus Christ

We do not have time today to delve into these two areas of Saving Faith, but I would be remiss if I did not at least mention them.

The Gospel Truth Results in Love (v 4b): and of the love that you have for all the saints,

Genuine faith does not exist in a vacuum but will inevitably result in a changed life. One of the visible and strong fruits of true saving faith is love for fellow believers.

A true child of God will love their brothers and sisters in Christ. Faith in Christ purges us of our selfishness and affinity for sinners and gives us a new attraction to the people of God. Our love for fellow believers is a reflection of God’s love for us. It is also obedience to his command to “love one another, even as I have loved you”

Paul here is giving thanks for the Colossian’s love for all of the saints. Their love does not appear to be selective nor are there divisive cliques in the church as we see in Corinth. Christ’s love not only drew them to Christ but also to one another.

The love that is talked about here is Agape love, which we have looked at on our Wednesday night services, but to quickly recap we are not talking a mere emotional attachment here. Paul is talking about a deep and sacrificial love that exists in the church. It is a love that deprives themselves in order to meet the needs of others. To build one another up to accomplish the work God has set before them. A true intimacy as they become of one mind in their glorification of God in pursuing his work. True godly love is illustrated in John chapter 13. Verse 1 tells us that Jesus “having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” He then showed what that love meant by washing the disciple’s feet in verse 4-5.

God then does not expect us to feel sentiment for one another, but to have such a deep and abiding love that we choose to serve one another.

There are two sides to the Christian life, both of which are crucial: faith and love. Genuine belief in the truth and experiential love for other believers characterizes every true believer. We are saved by faith; we are saved to love. True saving faith is more than a conviction of the mind. It transforms the heart to love.

The Gospel TruthRrests in Hope (v 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,”

Hope is a component of the great Christian trinity of virtues, along with Faith and Love. Paul here is thankful not only for the Faith and Love of the Colossians but also for their Hope. Faith and Hope are inseparably linked. We believe so we hope.

When we watch children we will notice that they are concerned only with the immediate. I am hungry now. I am bored now. I am tired now. Even though it is obvious among children, this immediacy of needs and wants is a trait that is universal among all of humanity. Most adults we meet are concerned with immediate gratification as well, they have just learned how to disguise it better. It is a cultural attitude that has developed with our affluence. But Paul is exhorting Christians to set aside those desires, our Hope is not in this world.

Because Paul says our hope is laid up, ἀποκειμένην apokeimenēn meaning “in-store” or “reserved” Our Hope then is reserved for us in heaven.

God establishes our Hope by making us His sons. Here the Colossians were made sons of God by believing the message they previously heard, which was the Gospel.

As Christian’s our hope will be fulfilled by God making us like His Son. We will be fulfilled in the future for we know when Christ returns we will be made like him because we will see Him just as He is (). Our hope then results in our willingness to sacrifice the present on the altar of the future. We should be willing to forgo our present comfort, glory, and satisfaction found in this world for our future glory that is in Christ.

If faith is our anchor, then Hope is our anchor chain connecting us inseparably to the very Throne of Grace.

The Gospel Truth Reaches the World and Produces Fruit and is Rooted in Grace (v 6): “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 then is a universal truth. Christianity was not just another local religious sect found in the Roman Empire. It was not merely one more cult, like the others at Colossae. It was then and is now the Good News for the whole world. The gospel transcends ethnic, geographic, cultural, and political boundaries.

Nothing exemplifies this more than the fact that here we are on a Sunday Morning in Washington State serving the same God and celebrating the same Faith, Hope, and Love as did the church at Colossae. True Christians throughout the world and throughout time have done the same back to the founding of the church age. The Truth of the Gospel is a Universal truth and not subject to any cultural whim or redefinition. The Truth is the Truth and Jesus Christ is that Truth.

But the Truth of the Gospel is not merely a stagnant set of ethics and moral codes; it is a living, moving, and growing reality. It bears fruit and spreads. says, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Notice how it is living and active.

When the gospel enters a divinely prepared heart, it results in fruit ( ). It possesses the energy that causes it to spread like a mustard seed growing into a tree ().

The gospel has both an individual and a universal aspect. It is both bearing fruit and increasing. Paul tells the Colossians he is thankful the gospel had done both among them since the day you [the Colossians] heard of it. He is grateful they believed the gospel message when Epaphras shared it with them.

The gospel produces fruit both in the internal transformation of individuals and also in the external growth of the church. The two concepts are interrelated. The spiritual growth of individuals will lead to new converts being won to Christ.

The living gospel is the power that transforms lives. As it does so, the witness of those transformed lives produces fruit, including new converts. So as the gospel produces fruit in individual lives, its influence spreads.

Grace is the very heart of the gospel. It is God’s freely giving us the forgiveness of sin and eternal life, which we do not deserve and cannot earn. Christianity contrasts sharply with other religions, which assume man can save himself by his good works. Nothing is more clearly taught in Scripture than the truth that “by grace, you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one may boast” ().

Paul describes saving grace as the grace of God in truth. The phrase “in truth” carries a sense of genuineness. It is truly the grace of God in contrast to all other claimants to the true gospel. God is freely, sovereignly merciful and forgiving. We can do nothing to cause our own salvation; God saves us freely by His grace.

Today we sang Jesus Paid It All. There is a beautiful truth expressed in that song: “For nothing good have I, Whereby Thy grace to claim. I’ll wash my garments white In the blood of Calvary’s lamb. Jesus paid it all, All to him I owe; Sin had left a crimson stain He washed it white as snow.” We can do nothing for salvation and we don’t need to, Jesus paid it all.

The Gospel of Truth is Reported by People (v 7-8): “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.”

Although salvation is solely by God’s grace, He uses humans as channels of that grace. Jesus told the disciples in that they, in the power of the Holy Spirit, were to be His witnesses.

As noted in the introduction, Epaphras brought the good news of God’s grace to the Colossian church. They learned it from him. Paul often referred to himself as a doulos (slave) of Christ. By referring to Epephras as his beloved fellow servant (sundoulos) Paul is connecting Epaphras ministry with his own. Epaphras then was Paul’s representative at Colossae, and backed by his own authority and the authority of Jesus Christ.

In our Postmodern world where we find ourselves bombarded with redefinitions of essential Truths. A redefinition of what marriage is, a redefinition of love, a redefinition of even what a boy and girl are, we are anchored to the Truth of the Gospel and tied to Christ’s throne in heaven. God gives us the wonderful privilege and sobering responsibility of being His agents in proclaiming the gospel of His grace. May we be faithful to share with others the gospel that has meant so much to us and that can set them free from the bondage of sin in our age of insanity.

Let Us Pray.