Sermon Tone Analysis

Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is, as always, an honor to steward this pulpit with the expressed intention of sharing the Word of God with our congregation.

Today we are beginning a new series, walking through the book of Colossians.

This series as been entitled: “Living the Christian Life”

Throughout this study we will see Paul address a wide range of topics for the purpose of assisting the Christians in Colossae live their lives for the glory of God.

In our culture today, we are familiar with the phrase “Living the Life.”

It’s usually used to describe someone who seemingly has it all figured out.

They drive the best cars, they have have the best house, they have the perfect family.

Every post they have on social media looks like they are in some new grand adventure.

“Man, that guy is out there living the life.”

Typically we see someone who has everything we think we want and does everything we think we want to do, and say, “Wow, now that’s living.”

Bit the problem is that, even if we were able to attain everything that person has, we still wouldn’t be satisfied.

In 2018, Lifeway Research put out an Article entitled “Why We are Bored and Never Satisfied”

In the article they quote Mathematician and Theologian Blaise Pascal as saying, “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”

I think we can identify with this statement.

Even with all fo the technological advances in the world that we enjoy, its still not enough.

We still look at others and think, “Man now that’s living the life!”

Despite all of physical needs being met, the vast array of delicacies we have access too, and the smartphones in our hands that have access to entertainment options unimaginable just decades ago and more computing power than what was used to send the first man to the moon!

The things we have and the things we experience may temporarily numb our boredom, but they don’t elimate the problem.

It just rears its head in new directions.

That same article mentioned Stephanie Land, an author who spent time cleaning homes for some very wealthy people.

She would clean children’s bedrooms that were bigger than her entire apartment.

They would have blankets that cost more than her car.

“After two years of cleaning large homes filled with empty lives, Stephanie concluded the larger the home, the harder the people worked to afford it, and the more pills were needed to get through the misery.”

“After scouring scientific research on boredom and interviewing hundreds of people about their own personal boredom, a group of psychologists concluded that boredom is much more than simply “not having anything to do,” especially in our culture as there is always something to occupy time.

Rather the psychologists concluded that boredom is “the unfulfilled desire for satisfying activity.”

In other words, people are bored because their desire to be satisfied is unfulfilled.”

Even those that we think are “Living the Life” are dissatisfied and bored!

They are unfulfilled.

Even still, we see self-help book after self-help book, article after article, telling us how to finally live our best lives now, how to finally find the satisfaction we all desire.

The problem is that even if we were to attain the success promised from those sources, we would still be dissatisfied.

We’d still be looking at someone else who “has it better” than us and think that they’re “Living the life”.

The big issue is that the world is trying to provide pragmatic solutions for a spiritual problem.

The true path to “living the life” isn’t found in the world.

It’s found in Christ.

You want satisfaction and success?

Don’t compare your life to those on a path to destruction, set your life on the foundation of Christ and measure your life on your faithfulness to Him!

The only way to truly be living the life is to be living the Christian life.

And I’m not talking about adding some contrived religious practices into your daily routine, I’m talking about repenting from your sin, and resting in the Lord Jesus Christ as the One who gives you your worth and satisfaction!

Paul, the author of the book we are beginning to study this morning, used his life to point others to the only way to truly be living, that is in submission to Jesus Christ.

Look at what he wrote to the Philippians:

When we imitate those who are obsessed with earthly things, those who will never truly find the satisfaction they seek, we are bound to get caught up in their cycles of destruction.

But the good news for all of us here today is that there is a BETTER way!

This is the good news of Jesus Christ, the gospel of Jesus Christ.

When you, by the grace of God, believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior who paid the price of your sin, your citizenship is transferred from this world full of dissatisfaction, to heaven!

You life becomes about waiting for the Jesus to bring you to glory.

But this waiting is not passively twiddling our thumbs!

In understanding that Christ has reconciled you to God, you come to understand that God has a plan and a purpose for your life.

You understand that He has prepared good works for you to accomplish.

You understand that God has drafted you to work for Him.

You understand that life isn’t about getting the next biggest and best “thing”, but about serving the Biggest and Best God!

A friend of mine who writes about Christian productivity put it this way, “My life is a stewardship from God to be used for bringing Him glory through bearing good works, according to His gifting, resulting in my reward.”

As we embark on this journey through the book of Colossians, the Holy Spirit, speaking to us through the pen of the apostle Paul, is equipping us not just to “live the life” that leads to destruction, but to “Live the CHRISTIAN life” that brings glory to God!

With that in mind, would you open your Bibles, if you haven’t already to the book of Colossians.

In this letter, Paul is addressing a group of Christians in Colossae.

Their pastor, Epaphras has visited Paul and told him about the wonderful things going on in the church.

Epaphras has also told Paul about the cultural challenges his congregation is facing.

Paul writes this letter to encourage the group to keep strong in the faith.

We will see throughout this letter very practical implications of the gospel in our lives.

But the applications of the gospel first begin with an understanding of the gospel.

Look with me at verses 1-2

I’ve recently spoken about the introduction to the letters written by the apostles to the churches throughout the New Testament, so I won’t be spending too much time here today.

However, we should all note that this letter which spends the latter half going through very specific and practical applications of the gospel, is written to “The saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae.”

Why is this important?

Because while the second half of the letter goes through practical applications to be employed in everyday life, the first half of this letter is very theological and focussed on explaining the gospel.

We need to make note of this because it tells us that we never graduate past the gospel.

I don’t care if you have been in the church all of your life.

You never grow past the necessity of understanding, digesting, and ruminating on the gospel.

Paul knows that he is writing to a group of believers.

He knows that these people know and confess the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the atonement of sin.

And yet he spends this entire first chapter going into great detail about the person of Christ and the truth of the gospel!

We may and should grow in our maturity in the faith, but we never grow past the gospel.

Let’s look now at the teaching on the gospel given to the church of Colossae.

The very first teaching and reminder we are given here is that The Gospel is Received by Faith.

Paul says that he has been praying for the church ever since he has heard of their faith in Christ Jesus.

Had the church not had faith in Christ, they would not be the church.

They would not be the “saints and the brothers in Christ at Colossae!

George Michaels was wrong on a lot of things, but even a broken clock is right twice a day, and there is truth the statement, “I gotta have faith,” is absolutely correct.

Nothing else in that song is worth a lick, but we do have to gave faith.

But the question is, what is real faith, what does faith in Christ Jesus really mean?

Is it simply intellect assent?

Saying Yes, Jesus is the Christ and leaving it at that?

The book of James shows us that right intellectual knowledge without any impact on what you do is not faith at all.

If you call that faith, you must call it dead faith.

Real, God-given, living faith stirs us to not merely assenting to intellectual understanding of who Jesus is, but also to repentance from understanding how lost we are without Him!

In understanding that Jesus died for our sin we understand the seriousness of our sin nature.

We understand the righteous demands of a holy God.

We are thus inspired and empowered to turn from sin and turn to the Lord.

Faith in Jesus Christ is not just understanding who He is, but what He’s done, why He’s Done it, and how He changes you!

We see this play out all over Scriptrue, but also in our text today.

Look at the end of verse four.

Not only is the gospel received by Faith, but that faith results in Love.

This is not some simple expression of shared affection.

All the saints, that is all those who are being sanctified by the Lord, being made holy, are joined together in super-familial love bonded together in truth.

2 John 6 tells us that love is walking according to the commandments of the Lord.

When we know Jesus Christ as Lord, as it says there in verse 3, we are united in mutual submission and following of the Lord.

True faith in the gospel results in true love for other believers.

That love is a reflection of the love Christ has for us.

Christ is OUR Lord.

We are joyful citizens of His Kingdom.