No Ordinary Letter
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1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2 To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
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. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf 8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.
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 to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. 5 For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.
6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. 20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. 22 Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. 25 For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.
1 Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.
2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. 3 At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— 4 that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.
5 Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. 6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
7 Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. 8 I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts, 9 and with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you of everything that has taken place here.
10 Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, and Mark the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you have received instructions—if he comes to you, welcome him), 11 and Jesus who is called Justus. These are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me. 12 Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. 13 For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis. 14 Luke the beloved physician greets you, as does Demas. 15 Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house. 16 And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea. 17 And say to Archippus, “See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord.”
18 I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.
Let’s pray.
Local Church: Gresham Bible Church - Josh Howeth Missionary: Cameron & Kristin Harris - Pray for students as they are home for the holidays, and rest & rejuvenation for Cameron & Kristin.
LWC: Show us marvelous things in your word
May your word find good soil in our hearts as be begin Colossians
And we ask that you would be glorified… my the words from my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing and acceptable to you.
I received just under 100 emails in my inbox this last week. And I didn’t read the vast majority of them, because most of them were useless to me.
There are a number of mailing lists that I should unsubscribe from, but in the meantime, I have my own method for managing all my emails.
Without reading every email, I process every one of them by looking at who they are sent from. Usually that tells me enough about the email to help me know if I should read the email or put it in the trash. But if that’s not enough information for me to decide what to do with the email, I will skimming through subject line to see if it’s important.
The same goes with the mail I get sent to my house. I can easily tell if a is important by looking at who the letter is from. And there is another step that I take when I’m processing my mail. As I sort through it, and weed out the useless mail, I make sure that the letters I receive actually belong to me, because from time to time I get my neighbor’s mail.
But it is important that I go through all my mail, be it digital of physical, because in the mix of all the letters and emails, there are a handful of them that are important for me read.
Well this morning we had a letter read to us all. We usually refer to this letter as the book of Colossians… but make no mistake, that book is a letter.
This morning we are staring our series through Colossians that will take us through the better part of the year. And the theme of this letter, and therefore the theme for us this year is the supremacy of Christ.
Since we are going to take the better part of this year to go through this letter, and since the entirety of it was read that this letter was read to you all this morning you should get a sense of how much we value this letter.
Now, most of us recognize the importance of this letter because it is contained in Holy Scripture. And we know that all Scripture is God breathed, and as such, we know that Colossians is important!
While most of us would say that Colossians is important along with the rest of the Scriptures, some of us may only view as important out of some kind of sentimental view of the Bible… we think it to be important because it is often bound in fine black leather with gold print embossed into it… most books aren’t put together that way so obviously Colossians and the other books of the Bible are important… right?
But judging by the dust on some of our Bibles, we must not really believe the content of it to be as important fas we might say it is. Here’s the thing; we might know and say that Colossians and the rest of the Bible are important. But if we don’t read it, it is owing to the fact that we don’t really believe it is important.
Some of us spend more time every day sorting through our junk mail then we do reading the Word of God. So it’s worth considering, do you actually believe that Colossians, and the rest of the Bible are important?
Here is my aim this morning. I want to convince you of the importance of Colossians.
The way I intend to do this is similar to how I filter through my own mail. We are going to look first two verses of this letter. In these verses, we will see who this letter is from, who it is for, and the intended purpose is.
And by the end of this sermon, I hope and pray that the importance of this letter would increase in your mind and heart such that you would be eager to hear it preached in the year ahead. And not only that, but I also hope that you would see the importance of all the Scriptures so that you would be eager to take up the Bible and read it in the year ahead.
Colossians opens up like this:
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2 To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
In these verses, I see three reasons that demonstrate the importance of this letter.
The first reason we should read Colossians, is because it was written by an apostle.
1. Colossians was written by an apostle.
1. Colossians was written by an apostle.
First let’s take some time consider who this apostle was.
Our letter opens up by telling us that it was written by Paul.
Too many kids who up in the church knowing little to nothing about the Apostle Paul. This is likely owing to the fact that he is hardly mentioned in most children’s Bibles if he is mentioned at all. The effect of this is that kids know more about Jonah and the whale than they do about Paul the Apostle.
Jonah is a small book of the OT that takes up only a few pages in our Bibles and is only mentioned a few other times in the Bible… where Paul on the other hand wrote 13 of our 27 books of the NT. And much of the book of Acts recounts his conversion and his four missionary journeys.
Let me give all of us a brief biographical sketch of the Apostle Paul
Paul, who was formerly called Saul, started off hating the church. Paul is first introduced to us at the execution of the first Christian martyr, his hatred for the church only increased from there.
But on the way to persecute more Christians, he had a radical encounter with the risen Jesus which transformed Paul from being a Christian killer to being one of the most prolific and hard working disciples and apostles of Jesus Christ.
Pauls life is marked by being an apostle to the gentiles. He worked to preach Christ where the gospel had not yet been preached. And on his missionary journeys, Paul faced countless trials through many beatings imprisonments, betrayals and more.
According to church tradition, Paul would go on to die for Jesus by being beheaded in Rome.
We could summarize Pauls life like this. He who once hated Jesus would go on to live for Jesus and dying for Jesus so that he could reign with Jesus.
For a more detailed look at Paul’s life I’d encourage you to read of Acts 22 where Paul recounts his own story or better yet, read through the entirety of Acts.
And don’t stop there, but read all of Paul’s epistles. They are worth reading, knowing, and loving, because Paul is a man who is worth imitating. In his book called Why I Love the Apostle Paul, John Piper wrote this:
“Besides Jesus, no one has kept me from despair, or taken me deeper into the mysteries of the God, than the Apostle Paul.
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
Let’s consider what it means for Paul to be an apostle of Christ Jesus.
The basic definition of “Apostle” is a messenger. So we might understand this to mean that Paul is a messenger of Christ Jesus.
But that’s not all this word means… because even here in this verse, Paul and Timothy are both messenger of God, but of the two, only Paul is an apostle. I myself am a messenger of Christ Jesus as I am a preacher of his Word…but I am certainly not an apostle. And any person who is alive today who claims to have apostolic authority is at best delusional or worse, they are a deceiver.
The way Paul is using the word apostle here should be understood as far more than a messenger. Paul uses the word apostle here as the authoritative office Jesus’ disciples who were eyewitnesses of the resurrection and had been personally appointed by Christ to govern the church.
So let me illustrate what it means for Paul to be an apostle in two ways…
Kids, you know the difference between a bossy sibling that tells you to do the dishes, and a sibling that carries a message from mom to do the dishes
To disobey the command of the bossy sibling is to defy the authority of that sibling
But to disobey the the command of your mom that is being delivered by that same sibling would be to defy the authority of your parent.
So it is, Paul is a messenger of God. And to not hear and obey Paul is ultimately to reject and rebel against God.
So too, we might understand what it means for Paul to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by considering the difference between a road-raging maniac in a minivan to that of a police offer who is speeding through traffic who is in his uniform and his issued police car.
One of them has the authority to pull you over, and the other one doesn’t. So it is of Paul the Apostle. He is God’s authoritative representative and messenger.
Paul is not a power hungry Christian who is claiming some kind of authority that he does not have. Rather, he has the unique role and authority to speak to God’s people as if God himself were speaking to them.
If Paul’s authority wasn’t already clear, he adds;
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
Let’s consider why Paul adds these words, ‘by the will of God’… In these words, Paul is talking about God’s sovereign will. For a more comprehensive understanding of the will of God, I’d encourage you to go back and listen to Tait’s sermon from the Lord’s Prayer series on the words, “your will be done.”
But for the sake of today, I want us to understand, that Paul is referring to God’s sovereign will… that is to say, everything that comes to pass happens according to the counsel of God’s will.
11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,
The sun rises and sets only because God has willed it to do so.
Even man’s best plans and decisions rest ultimately upon the will of God
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
And our salvation is dependent upon the will of God.
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
With this in mind, let’s consider Paul’s words in Colossians again
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
Why does Paul link his apostleship to the will of God?
It is owing to this… Paul’s authority is not rooted in his decision to follow Jesus. His authority is not rooted in his knowledge. And his authority isn’t even rooted in the other apostles’ affirmation of Paul. Paul’s apostleship comes directly from the will of God.
Why is this important for us to recognize? Well many of the Colossians may have views Paul as a failure or even a criminal due to his imprisonment that he was in when he was writing this letter. As such they may have doubted what he had to say.
And not only was Paul writing from prison, but he is writing to shut down the false teaching that is happening in and among the the Colossians.
8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
Paul wants the Colossians to recognize his authority as an apostle that has been commissioned directly by the risen Jesus. And this is crucial, because he is going to challenge the teaching of those who may have held a position of authority among the Colossians. And to add to the difficulty of this task, the Colossians likely had never met Paul before this letter was written.
Certainly all kinds of men and women claim to have authority, and they say that they speak on behalf of God.
But Pauls authority is not rooted in his personal claim to apostleship. He is an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.
And his words are not the words of a mad mad. He is not a lier, or a lawless man. Rather what Paul says is true. His words to the Colossians are Scripture and as such, we understand that they are
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
We can trust the words of Paul, and the words of the other apostles like him.
There is why reason we preach what we call expository sermons here - we preach verse by verse through the Bible, because we trust the Word of God over and above the words and ideas of man.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
Now some of us might wonder if we are making too much about Paul. I mean, this is about Jesus and not Paul right? So are we in guilty making too much out our favorite teachers like the Corinthians were? Or are we in danger out of mistaking Paul for being a god like the people at Lystra or Malta?
No I don’t believe we are in that kind of danger…
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
God gave us apostles like Paul for our good. And further, Paul even commended himself like this:
1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
God intends for us to learn from Paul. And Paul intends that we would look at his own life as well.
Apart from reading Paul and taking his words to heart, we would never be able to reach the heights and depths of the knowledge of God.
Furthermore, Paul was a man who remained faithful to to the very end despite countless trials. It’s worth getting to know Paul, and knowing what made this man tick so that we might imitate his ways.
So we ought to read Colossians, because it was written by an apostle.
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
For the sake of this sermon, I’m not going to spend much time talking about Timothy. But what should interests us this morning is how Timothy relates to Paul and the Colossians. Timothy is called, ‘our brother’ a word that is used again in v 2.
2 To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
The second reason we should read Colossians, is because it is addressed to you.
2. Colossians is addressed to you.
2. Colossians is addressed to you.
Every now and then, I get a letter in the mail that is addressed to a Reverend Joshua Trosper.... And I can tell that whoever is sending me that letter doesn’t really know me. No once calls me Joshua except for my dad… and more than that, no one calls me reverend.
But this isn’t the case for the Paul’s letter to the Colossians.
Paul addressed that is letter is to the saints… which simply means the holy ones. We should see ourselves in this address. We normally call ourselves Christians today. But make no mistake, every Christian is a saint. If you are a Christian, then you are holy and set apart by God and for God. And as saints, Paul and Timothy are our brothers.
Now I can’t imagine many circumstances where a person would receive a letter a sibling only to never read it and throw it in the trash. And in this case, we ought to recognize that what we have here is a letter from our fellow brothers and saints Paul and Timothy. And they wrote this letter so that we would take it up and read it! So open it us and read it! And if you didn’t understand what you read, well then it would profit you to read it again! And even if we did understand it, it is still worth meditating on day and night.
2 To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
This letter is written to those who are faithful brothers…
Those who are faithful are those who are steadfast, immovable, and are always abounding in the work of the Lord.
Are you a faithful brother? If so, this letter is for you!
I have a verse that I go back to nearly every day.
21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
I have it as my aim in this life to live in such a way that when I am judged by God I will hear these words… well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your master…
and I have other verses that are attached to this one to help me discern how I am to live in order to remain faithful to my master. But I do hope that I’m not the only one who longs to hear these words. I do hope that we all desire to remain faithful to God to the very end.
If you long to enter into your master’s joy on that day, then you ought to see your name that is inscribed into this letter.
2 To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
Paul says that these saints are also in Christ… Being in Christ is what makes us a Christian.
Those who have recieved eternal life only receive it by being in Christ
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Those who are no longer under the condemnation of God are only so because they are in Christ
1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
And bearing good fruit of righteousness is only possible so long as we are in Christ
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
And those who receive Christ must remain in him
6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
So, if you are a Christian, you should see that this letter is addressed to you.
2 To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
But this is addressed to the saints at Colossian church that existed in the first century, not the church in Vancouver here in 2022. If we recieved mail that was intended to go to another sister church in Vancouver, we wouldn’t open it right? How can we say that this letter is written the Colossians is to us?
Well it’s true that Paul will address the specific issues that happened some 2000 years ago in the Colossian church. And as such, we need to be sure that we interpret it properly. But Paul intended this letter to be read by other churches.
16 And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea.
Paul intended this letter to be read by other churches. And God has preserved this letter for us so that we would read it.
Now, one disclaimer on this point - this letter might not be written to you… at least not yet
This letter is written to the saints who are faithful in Christ.
It would be foolish of me to assume that everyone here this morning is in fact in Christ…
Some of you go on living in habitual and unrepentant sin
Some have no love for Jesus, or your love for him is neither hot nor cold…
Some say they love Jesus, but they have no love for their neighbor
And others simply do not believe in Jesus Christ.
If these describe you are not in Christ. And if you are not in Christ, then this letter is not for you. But there is good news… there is a way for you to be in Christ.
Elsewhere it is asked of Paul,
30 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
If you don’t think this is possible for you to be saved, be encouraged by what Paul reminds these saints at Colossae as well as all the Christians who take up this letter and read it.
21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,
This is what Christ does… he reconciles sinners to himself through his death so that we can saints. He does this, not because of our works, but because of his perfect work that he credits to all who believe in him.
And this brings us to the final reason we should all read Colossians. Whether we are a saint or not, we should all read this letter because of the contents that are contained in it.
2 To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
This greeting functions in a similar way to what how we use the subject line of email. This greeting gives us a taste of what Pauls intent is in writing to the church. And Paul says what he is sending with his letter, is grace and peace from God our Father.
Why should you read Colossians? Because it contains treasures that are of infinite value.
3. Colossians contains treasures that are of infinite value.
3. Colossians contains treasures that are of infinite value.
We all know that the importance of a letter is dependent upon what that letter contains.
Think about it. What makes a card worth keeping? Do you keep a card because of the generic Hallmark greeting inside it? Or do you keep a card because of the personal handwritten note that drips with love in each letter stroke?
My brother demonstrated his care for the contents of a card when he graduated from high school. He had a stack of graduation cards and as he opened them, he didn’t first check who the card was from or even what the card said. Instead he shook the cards upside down to see if any gift cards or checks were tucked inside the card. My brother was interested in the contents of the cards more than the cards themselves.
Every kid who has ever shaken their presents under the Christmas tree know this to be true. We are shake the boxes under the tree with our names on it because we are interested in the contents of the gift. And a as a kid, the box that sounded like Legos was of way more interest to me than the box that sounded like it had socks.
So too, we should be interested in Colossians because of the contents of this letter.
We ought to be like kids who shake the gifts under the tree in order to find out what is contained in them.
Or my brother, who shakes his cards to see if they are of any value.
Or better yet, like someone in love who pours over the letter because from their beloved, because they want to understand everything that is contained in it.
Paul wrote these wonderful words, and we ought to investigate them diligently to try to understand the truth that they contain - Grace, and peace from God our Father.
Now, we might be tempted to write these words off as a generic introduction. All of Paul’s letters start off with a similar greeting. These words might be common, but they are rich with meaning.
It might be generic, but we understand the difference between the neon sign that is lit up in the window of a business that says it is open, compared to the one that says it is closed.
It might be generic, but we understand the difference between the between the sign at a door that says welcome compared to the sign that says no soliciting.
And again, it might be generic, but there is a big difference between the letter that is signed “sincerely from” as opposed to the letter that is signed “with love”.
Let’s not assume that customary greeting has no meaning.
So what are the contents of this letter?
2 To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
Paul is sending the Colossians grace…
We could spend all day defining grace. We might get to do that at a later time, because this letter is bookended by Paul sending grace to the Colossians.
But for today let me give the most familiar definition of this and then the less familiar one.
Grace is unmerited favor.
Grace is what is given to undeserving sinners when they turn to Jesus. It is impossible to understand the gospel without an understanding grace.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Oh that we would know that all that we have here in this letter is completely undeserved. But it is given freely and gladly by God to all who love him.
But this isn’t the only way we should understand grace.
Grace is literally the power that God supplies to his people…
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.
All the good that we enjoy, and all the good that we do is all owing to God’s grace. And we are all in need of his grace every day, and every hour, and every moment that goes by. So read this letter, because the contents of this letter dripping grace.
But that’s not all Paul is sending in this letter -
2 To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
Every one of us is longing for peace… the absence of chaos and worry
When wartime is over, nations are said to be at peace
When our homes are put together and cleaned up, our homes are made peaceful
And when sinners are reconciled to the God who they have sinned against, because of the grace that he gives to us, we have peace.
If you want peace this morning, take up Colossians and read it.
And where does this grace and peace come from?
It comes from God our Father.
This is no ordinary letter. This letter contains grace and peace from God our Father. And these treasures are here in Colossians for us to take hold of. May we read Colossians and delight in it as we grow in our love and knowledge of our Lord and Savior. Let’s pray