Who is Jesus? Intro message

Who is Jesus?

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

2 To the saints and faithful brothers[a] in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

- A typical sounding introduction from Paul. In this introduction, like others, he brings up his apostleship (as reminder of God given authority which he makes mention of saying, “by the will of God”), and includes the name of Timothy, his fellow worker and child in the faith

- This letter is addressed to the “saints and faithful brothers in Christ”- Making it abundantly clear that this letter is for believers. Originally, this was intended for the church at Colossae, although that does not remove our need from this letter (It’s known that letters were received by their original audience and then passed on to another church. In fact, Colossians makes mention of that practice at the end of the letter (Ch. 4:16)

- Colossae A city located in southwest Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). In the first century AD, Colossae was a small agricultural community in Phrygia, a region known for an obsession with magic and the occult (pagan belief). The church at Colossae apparently was planted by a man named Epaphras (see Col 1:7 and note), who also ministered in the nearby cities of Laodicea and Hierapolis (4:12–13).

- Paul ends his introduction by a common mantra that we see in many of his letters

- “Grace and Peace”- This common phrasing is doing two things

1. Joining together the Gentile audience as well as the Jewish audience in one greeting-

To the Gentile Believers, it is by grace they are adopted into the family of God

To the Jewish believers, by Christ they have peace with God. Or “shalom”

2. Bringing us back to the Gospel truth for those who have believed. We are saved by God’s grace by Christ. We are reconciled to God by the work of Christ- bringing peace

3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 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, 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, 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant.[b] He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf 8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

- Colossians is an interesting letter for a couple reasons

1. This is considered a prison letter by Paul (Gal, Eph, Phi, Col) Paul would have written and sent this letter while he was in prison

2. We are fairly certain, by the language Paul uses in these first verses, that he had never met the people he is writing to. They were strangers according to social definition, yet had a close bond because of Christ

- The content of this letter is coming from a Paul who was currently in prison, and had never met the church at Colossae

- However, even though Paul had never met them, their reputation was already well-known

- Paul and his mission team were always thanking God for this church- Why? Because of their faith

- Paul had heard of their faith and love for all the saints. Similar to what we see Paul writing in 1 Thess. 1, their faith was not just spoken of it was clearly seen and on display

- The fruit of their Christian life was produced directly after they had heard the Gospel message from Epaphras

- The Gospel was not just a local harvest in Colossae, but a global harvest all over the known world

- This is still the truth today- The Gospel is not just bearing fruit here, it is bearing fruit all over the globe.

- How is the Gospel able to spread in all areas? ( with Cultures, traditions, religions, region)

- Because the power of the Gospel is not in the messenger, or the ones who hear, but in the word of the Gospel itself

- The Gospel is the power of God for salvation (1 Cor. 1)

- The Colossians first heard the Gospel from Epaphras, understood the Gospel, BELIEVED in the Gospel, and then began bearing fruit for Christ

9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; 12 giving thanks[d] to the Father, who has qualified you[e] to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

- Paul’s prayer for this people began as soon as he heard of their faith in Jesus

- The next few verses list the hopes and prayers that Paul has for this people

- The main purpose behind this study- That we might be

- Filled with the knowledge of His will- with all spiritual wisdom & understanding

- That we might walk (live) in a manner that is worthy of the Lord (indicative of following Christ)- to please Him in all ways- Bearing fruit- increasing in our knowledge of God

- Strengthened with all power- that is according to the power of God-

- To obtain steadfastness & patience in our faith

- To be joyously giving thanks to the Father

- To know Christ, live for Christ and continue to grow in Christ

- The goal of this letter is understood better when we understand the context of what was happening at Colossae

- The world will do 1 of three things with the person of Jesus

1. Believe in who He claimed to be

2. Reject who He claimed to be

3. Distort what He said about Himself

- The church at Colossae, who had already believed in Jesus, were starting to face those who were distorting (or changing) the message of Jesus

- They were taking truths about Jesus and twisting them to say something else

- Rejection of Christ is fairly easy to refute- Outright rejection and disbelief is something that we can openly see and reject

- Distorted truths can be far more dangerous--- Satan in the garden- “Did God really say?” – The temptation of Jesus

- Counterfeit money- The look of something real that has no value

- The goal of this letter, especially in the next few verses, is to teach us who Jesus really is

- We can’t study EVERY false belief about Jesus, we just need to know who He really is

- If we know who Jesus is, according to His Word, we can combat any false belief that comes our way