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Introduction:
What are some reasons that we might write a letter?
A letter of greeting and introduction?
A letter of encouragement?
A letter of thanks?
A letter of joy?
Maybe even a letter of rebuke and warning?
Today we are going to start studying through a letter that Paul wrote to a church that, by all of our understanding, he didn’t even get to visit.
This letter was written for all of the above reasons we just mentioned!
This letter is written to a church that he has gotten news about by a beloved brother and minister and church planter named Epaphras.
After receiving news from this beloved brother, he writes this letter as an encouragement and admonishment to this new and growing church.
Let’s jump right in to Colossians 1:1-8.
Let us pray.
Prayer
Although this letter will go into many of the heresies that were present in this early church, today we will see Paul’s greeting and prayers of thanksgiving for this new church.
And through his warm greeting and prayer for this church we are given three ways that Paul teaches us that we can love and serve serve the church fellowship.
The first is:
I.
As Christ Followers, We Should Love and Serve the Church Fellowship With… Thankful Hearts (1-3)
Obviously we see that this letter is written by Paul with the help of Timothy.
It should be noted that Paul is most certainly the letter writer and that Timothy is being mentioned here because of his closeness to Paul and possibly because of some help scribing for Paul.
We see this because much of this letter is written in first person singular after this first section ,
Paul calls himself an apostle - he is one who is sent out - a messenger.
He is also a special one who is sent out.
He is a ‘big A’ Apostle that was chosen by Jesus Christ personally as a witness of His resurrected state (You can read more about Paul’s conversion as Jesus appears to him on the road to Damascus in Acts 9:1-19).
We, today are little ‘a’ apostles.
We are ones who are sent out to tell the good news of the Gospel.
However, we have not been given the same abilities and privileges as these initial Big ‘A’ Apostles who were sent out to start the church.
He writes this by the will of God and he is an Apostle by the will of God.
How important is this to know.
Paul isn’t writing this letter to prove his own points but instead, he is writing according to the will of God.
The Words we read in this letter are the words of God Himself!
As we approach the teachings in this letter remember that fact.
Next we are introduced to Timothy.
Timothy is a wonderful example of someone who is being mentored and discipled by Paul.
We talk about mentoring and discipleship a lot here at CrossPointe.
This is because it is the best way to grow.
When you do life with people by engaging in active discipleship it helps you grow closer to the Lord and equips you to continue discipling others.
Timothy is called brother here meaning that he is a fellow believer in Christ.
We, as believers, are all brothers and sisters in Christ.
In verse 2 we are told who this letter is addressed to.
We have just seen who it is from and now we get the greeting to the church in Colossae.
Saints and faithful brothers.
The word saint here is the Greek word hagios (ha-ee-ose) - and means holy one or sacred or even sanctuary.
It means that to be set apart as believers.
Who were these set apart believers in Colossae and where were they located?
Colossae was one of three cities within sight of one another - the other two being Hierapolis and Laodicea.
Colossae was the furthermost away from those two being around 12 miles away while only 6 miles separated the other two.
Colossae was also notably the smallest and least important of the three.
It was actually a prominent city in the fifth century BC and was known for black wools and dyes.
Yet the main road was diverted from Colossae to Laodicea which made Colossae fairly irrelevant in Paul’s day.
This city wasn’t the most renowned city as we can see.
As my friend, Pastor Josh Bailey put it, it was a little like where live in West Virginia.
We have many rural towns and even our cities don’t usually meet the criteria to be considered a city!
Frankly, we can even relate to the diversion of roads because we see that many out of state motorists try to avoid our mountainous and difficult to navigate interstates if at all possible!
I love that Paul writes a letter to this rural church.
It shows that God cares about the Church universally.
He isn’t just concerned about the big and populous areas.
He is concerned about a humble church plant in Teays Valley, WV called CrossPointe.
He is concerned about the church down the street and He is concerned about churches in even more rural areas.
God is concerned and loves all believers, no matter what continent, country, or city they are in.
Many versions put the word always before the phrase ‘praying for you’ instead of with the phrase ‘we thank God.’
The ESV is more accurate to put the word always before the phrase ‘thank God’ instead.
We do not always pray for someone - especially someone we have never met like Paul and the church in Colossae.
Yet we should always be thanking God for what we have been given and thanking God for other believers.
We should be giving thanks in all circumstances: 1 Thess 5:16-18
Paul is going to be hitting Christology - the study of Christ - in great detail in this letter - especially these first two chapters.
He goes right into it in verse 3 with showing that God is the Father of our Lord Christ Jesus.
He is clear which God is he talking about.
He isn’t talking about any esoteric God.
He is talking about the Father of Jesus Christ.
I want us to focus in on Paul here for a moment.
It is important to realize that the book of Colossians is one of the “Prison Epistles.”
Meaning that it is one of the letters that he wrote while he was in prison.
If you were with us as we went through the book of Philippians we discussed the fact that Paul had three different imprisonments:
Paul’s Imprisonments
Caeserea (AD 58-61)
Rome (AD 61-63) - During this imprisonment he likely wrote Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, and Ephesians.
(See Acts 28:16-31)
Rome (AD 65-67)
As we can see here, this letter was written along with Philippians among other others.
Note Paul’s thankfulness here.
Paul is in prison.
It seems very counter-intuitive that he starts off his letter with thanks.
We can learn a lot about how we should be giving thanks to God even in difficult circumstances from Paul here.
Thankfulness removes our mind from being on ourselves and changes our focus to being on the Lord.
Paul could be depressed and self-focused right now.
But instead he is expressing his thankfulness and even moving forward to lift up intercessory prayer on behalf of this church that he does not even personally know.
We have a lot to learn here.
I have a lot to learn here.
It is so easy for us to get caught up in our own lives, desires, wants, and needs and miss out on the joy that comes from a thankful heart.
When we pray and give thanks for others, we are freed from the bondage of selfishness.
We are able to see the Lord magnified and are blessed in many ways through this prayer on behalf of others.
I pray that we learn from Paul here that giving thanks and focusing on others more than ourselves frees us from the confines of our difficult circumstances.
Paul shows us here that the best cure for self-loathing is focusing on the goodness and greatness of God in thankfulness and then focusing on the needs of others.
Next we see that...
Scripture References: Acts 9:1-19, 2 Peter 1:20-21, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, Acts 28:16-31
II.
As Christ Followers, We Should Love and Serve the Church Fellowship With… Faithful Hope (4-6)
Paul starts this off with the beginning of their faith in the Gospel and moves toward what fruit the Gospel is growing in their lives.
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