Colossians 1:1-14

Intro

Being a dad is easily one of the coolest parts of my life, and I thank God for the opportunity that I have to be a dad and for Elsie, who I get to raise. As difficult as parenting can be, it is way more rewarding than it is punishing.

One of the coolest parts of being a dad is watching Elsie grow up and learn how to do things. There isn’t much that Elsie is good at yet, which makes sense, because she’s only 2 and isn’t really supposed to be good at anything yet. We don’t hold it against her that she hasn’t mastered the art of drawing yet.

In fact, when Elsie does draw a picture for me and runs it over to me, excited to show me the art that she made for me, I always tell her that its beautiful and that I’m so proud of her. She hand me paper with incoherent crayon spaghetti on it, but to me it really is beautiful because she’s my daughter and she’s doing the best she can.

Now, if Elsie draws the same thing for me when she’s in high school, I might be a little less thrilled with the art. The expectations have changed. She has grown up, taken art classes, has hand-eye coordination, and is capable of better.

That’s the reality of life though, isn’t it? We watch people grow and our expectations change over time. We don’t expect toddlers to produce masterpieces, we don’t expect someone to be great at a sport their first time playing it, and I certainly hope none of you would expect me to do anything special with a piano considering I have never learned how to play one. The reality of life is that as people grow, their abilities grow with them, and we always have to allow for that period of growth in people.

It is the exact same when it comes to our walk with Jesus.

The Gospel Strengthens

When a person first becomes a Christian, it is a transformative experience and everything changes. It can also be an overwhelming experience, because everything changes. The way you see the world, what you ought to do, why you ought to do it, why you do anything, it all changes, and it doesn’t all change at once.

That’s part of the reason why Paul wrote this letter, actually. He knows of the Colossian church and has heard that there are new Christians in this city, and he starts off by telling them that he has been praying for them ever since he heard about them.

He is thankful to God,

Colossians 1:5–7 ESV

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

Here we see that the gospel has broken into Colossae and has been saving people. Paul refers to the gospel as “the word of truth,” and as their hope laid up in heaven.

What else is interesting is that Paul also talks about the gospel increasing in the world and among them.

The gospel didn’t come into their lives and then transform them into finished products. The gospel came in, gave them hope, changed them, and is now in the process of increasing among them.

Listen to verse 9

Colossians 1:9 ESV

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,

Becoming a Christian doesn’t automatically come with all of the knowledge, wisdom and understanding that you will need to live a mature Christian life. Those are things that need to increase in you after you become a Christian.

And why?

Colossians 1:10 ESV

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;

So that you can actually walk in such a way that pleases God and is worthy of him!

When we think about what the gospel does, do we often think this? We say it gets us to heaven, sure, but what about causing us to actually please God in our own lives?

Here Paul makes it clear: when the gospel works in a person, it works in such a way that causes them to grow in their faith and in their good works. When the gospel works in a person, it causes them to live in a way that is pleasing to God!

Many of us are probably wondering how something like that is possible. Walking in a manner worthy of the Lord is no small thing, and we also know that it is impossible for a person to do something like that by himself. Living in a way that is pleasing to God is completely out of our natural reach. So how then?

Colossians 1:11 ESV

being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy;

We find that we are strengthened with all power according to God’s might.

Now, my phone is powered according to the might of the battery in it. It’s pretty impressive because it can power my phone for a full day, but it couldn’t power my car for even a minute. My car is powered according to the might of its own battery, and that is even more impressive, but that battery couldn’t power this church building. This church building is powered by a huge plant, which is more impressive still, but that power plant couldn’t power all of michigan.

You see where I’m going right? Everything is powered by something, and every source of power finds its limit somewhere. Even human beings are powered by food and water, but that only lasts us a few hours and we need to sleep every 16 hours on average.

But when it comes to our Christian walk and growth, we are powered according to God’s glorious might. This is the only place where our power source is truly unlimited and we could never find its limit. God places his Spirit in us, and His Spirit supplies us with the power we need to grow in maturity and our ability to obey God.

The Spirit uses tools like God’s Word and our own prayers to grow us more in Christ-likeness. This is a process called sanctification and it is the grace of God in our lives that causes us to live holy lives.

This is a big call! You are being called by Scripture to grow up into the gospel, to mature, to walk in a manner worthy of God and to please him in your lives.

But even in this big call, it isn’t in order to earn God’s love or your own salvation.

No, our sanctification only comes AFTER what is called our justification. Justification is the work of God that declares a person to be righteous.

The Gospel Declares

Listen to what Paul says about it

Colossians 1:12–14 ESV

giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Even though the people need to be walking in a way that pleases God, they have no room to boast when they do that. Instead, Paul says that they should give thanks to God because of something that has already happened. While their growth is a process and Paul talks about it in the present tense, he mentions that God HAS deliveres us from the domain of darkness and TRANSFERRED us into the kingdom of his Son, where we already have redemption and the forgiveness of sins.

In other words, because of Jesus justifying us, we are already viewed as holy , and yet we must also grow in holiness and get better at following God.

Because of what Jesus has done, We are already viewed as children of God and worthy of God’s inheritance, yet we must grow up into maturity

Jesus has made us the children of God, and so even in our immaturity God is pleased with us like I am pleased with Elsie’s drawings; though they are imperfect and nothing impressive by themselves, they bring joy to the father because it is the work of his children.

Yet we cannot remain immature forever, but we also recognize that the grace and power of God will cause us to grow up into maturity.

Though Jesus has already declared us holy, we are still becoming holy.

So the sanctification is not to earn a status with God, that’s already been earned. Rather, it is a “becoming who we are” by the power of God.

So give thanks to God for the work of Jesus! That work has already redeemed you if you trust in him, and that work is the power that will cause you to grow up into what Jesus already says you are.