Keep sharing good news without ads.
No description available
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Colossians so they might know Christ as preeminent. That means Jesus is top. Above him there is nothing else. We are completely satisfied in our Savior Christ. And we're studying the book of Colossians together so we might know Jesus is enough when we understand the text.
You're listening to When We Understand The Text. Committed to sound teaching of the Word of God. For questions and comments, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com. And don't forget our website, www .tt .com.
Here's our host, Pastor Gabe.
Thank you, Becky. Colossians chapter 1, verses 1 through 8 is our text. And today we want to summarize five points from this introduction that Paul gives to the church at Colossae so that we might know that Jesus is enough.
We are to be completely satisfied in our Savior Christ who provides for our every need. Epaphras is a minister from Colossae who has come to visit Paul in Rome. And he has reported to Paul about a false teaching that is threatening the Colossian church from the outside.
So this is Paul's first opportunity to minister to the saints that are at Colossae. And since this is his first time addressing them, he's never met these individuals before, never been to that church.
It's not one of the churches that he planted. So since this is his first opportunity to preach to them, he means to set out Christ as preeminent from the very beginning of the letter. That word preeminent is a word that Paul uses only in this letter and nowhere else.
But it means that Jesus is enough. He is top and above him there is nothing else. And so we are studying this letter together so that we might mature in that understanding as well. Colossians chapter 1 verses 1 through 8 is our text today.
Before getting to that, why don't we come to the Lord in prayer. Our wonderful Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word so that through it we might know you better. We grow in our relationship with God, our intimacy with Christ.
So Lord, show us these things today. Give us your spirit so that we might understand them better and know Christ as preeminent. We understand what that means. We learn that he has provided for our every need.
And in our Savior, we are completely satisfied. Thank you for your patience with us as we learn these things. And we pray all of this in Jesus name. Amen. Paul identifies himself at the beginning of the letter, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.
And Timothy, our brother, to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae, grace to you and peace from God our Father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you.
Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints 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 a papyrus, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the spirit.
So Paul introduces himself and mentions that Timothy is with him as he is writing this letter to the Colossians. Paul, an apostle of Christ by the will of God. And that brings us to our first point as we draw out five points to summarize this text.
We do not appoint ourselves to God's service. He appoints us, Paul, an apostle of Christ, by the will of God. Jesus said in John 15, 16, you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide.
That is a point we're going to come back to later as we draw out five points from this introduction. But Paul introduces himself similarly to the Corinthians in 1st Corinthians 1 1. Paul called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus in Galatians 1 15.
He says that God had set me apart before I was born and called me by his grace. And in Titus 1 1, Paul says that he is a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness.
So they're identifying himself also as a servant. His identity as an apostle is to identify himself to the Colossians as a servant for their need. Myself as a pastor, when I call myself Pastor Gabe. That's not something that is necessarily identifying myself as a position of authority, although it is an authority, but it's also an identity of service.
I am saying to my congregation that I am here for your need and for Paul to identify himself as that way to the Colossians. Yes, it's an authority that they need to pay attention to because we read in Ephesians chapter two that it is on the apostles that Jesus has established his church with himself as the cornerstone.
So it is a position of authority as the apostles have written the New Testament. So we continue to submit to their authority even today. But it is also a title of service that he is presenting himself to the Colossians as a servant for their need.
And notice that he also identifies Timothy in that same introduction, Timothy, our brother. And indeed, Timothy is a servant to the Colossians as well. We read about how Paul identified Timothy to the Philippians in Philippians chapter two, verses 19 through 24.
He says to them, I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon so that I, too, may be cheered by news of you. For I have no one like him, no one like Timothy, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare.
For the rest, they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know, Timothy's proven worth, how as a son with a father, he has served with me in the gospel. I hope, therefore, to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me.
And I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come to you also. So this is just further to highlight the service by which Paul operates to those that he writes to. And also that Timothy is there for the benefit of others as well.
And we are to be the same as we minister to the saints. We are to commit ourselves to service to others just as Paul commits himself in service. But we do not choose ourselves for God's service. We don't appoint ourselves to the service of God.
He has appointed us. Jesus says in Mark 9 35, if anyone would be first in God's kingdom, he must be last of all and a servant of all. And Paul says this of himself in 1 Corinthians 9 19, though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all that I might win more of them to Jesus Christ.
And so let us commit ourselves to service. But knowing that it is not us that has chosen ourselves for service to God, we serve because he chose us just as he called the apostle Paul, an apostle of Christ by the will of God.
And Timothy, our brother to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae, grace to you and peace from God, our father. And it is in that introduction that we can draw out our second point. We are to serve our fellow saints with prayer and encouragement.
Paul says in verse three, we always thank God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, serve the fellow saints with prayer and encouragement.
We're doing this right now with our church here in Junction City, Kansas. We're very close to Fort Riley. And so we have many soldiers that are going to be deploying from our church even this very month to go serve in their tour of duty overseas.
And so we, as a church, can continue to show our service to the fellow saints, to members of our own church by praying for them, lifting them up in prayer and also serving their families while the husbands are deployed.
In Colossians chapter three, verses 12 through 17. This is a text that we're going to get to later on as we continue our study of Paul's letter to the Colossians. But he says this put on then is God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and patience, bearing with one another.
And if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you. So you must also forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you were called in one body. Again, there's that calling, right? We don't appoint ourselves to service in Christ. He called us and it is the peace of Christ to which we have been called in one body and be thankful.
Verse 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. 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.
So our commitment first as Christians is to care for fellow saints. Yes, we're to show love to everybody. Absolutely. But our attention first is to the fellow saints, those that we serve with in the body of Christ, in which we worship.
Paul said to the Galatians Galatians 610. As we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, but especially to those who are of the household of faith. So when we read commands like when Jesus says that the second greatest command, second greatest command is to love our neighbor as ourself.
Leviticus 1918. Love your neighbor as yourself. When we read such a command, these addresses to love our neighbor as ourself as a command to love everybody. But then when we see a verse like Matthew 2540, where Jesus says that which you did to the least of these brothers of mine, you have done also to me.
When we're talking about brothers, we're talking about only those who are in Christ Jesus, not everybody. That's what that's what's being said in context there anyway. So neighbor is everybody. Brother or sister is those who are only in Christ, only those who are members of the body of Christ.
So we need to understand the difference by what we mean by neighbor and what we mean by brother or sister in Christ. Those addresses to brothers or sisters is not to everybody. It is just those who are followers in Christ.
But as we're commanded to show love to our neighbor, that would be everyone. Everyone who is an image bearer of God. That's everybody. So point number two, we are to serve our fellow saints with prayer and encouragement.
Let us show love to the household of faith. Justice Paul is showing an attentiveness to the church in Colossae. He is writing to believers. This is not just anybody, but it is only those who have the spirit of Christ who would be able to receive and understand the words by which Paul addresses this church.
So that's point number two. Point number three is this faith, hope and love are essential Christian virtues. As Paul says here in verses four and five, we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.
These are three virtues that Paul brings up frequently throughout his letters. Probably the most famous verse where we see faith, hope and love appear together is first Corinthians 1313. These three things remain faith, hope and love.
But the greatest of these is love. Love is the greatest because it's eternal. We have faith and hope in this life only. But when we get to heaven, we won't have any need for faith and hope because our faith shall be sight.
As we read about in the scriptures and was also sung by Horatio Spafford in his song, it is well. Oh, Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight. So when we get to heaven, we won't have any need for faith anymore.
But love will continue to reign eternal. Same with hope. Currently, we hope for things that we do not see. But hope is an assurance. It's not hope the way that we tend to abuse the word in this life. Now, I hope that the cats win on Sunday.
I hope that I have enough money in my bank account. I hope that I will get a better job than this. OK, when we use that word, when we abuse it in that way, we talk about things that we're not sure of happening.
We don't know whether those things are going to happen or not. But when we hope in that which is laid up for us in heaven, which Paul talks about in verse five, we are hoping in something that we know is certain.
We're not guessing. Well, I hope I get to heaven one day. No, we know by the promises that have been given to us in Christ. Jesus said in John chapter 10, my sheep know my voice. They hear me and follow me and no one will be able to snatch them out of my hand.
And we read in Romans chapter eight that nothing will separate us from the love of Christ. So we know with certainty those of us who are followers of Christ, we know that if we endure in Christ Jesus, we will be given this reward that is in heaven.
We're not guessing. It's something that might come. We know with certainty that it will be given to us. Faith, hope and love are essential Christian virtues. And Paul illustrates faith and love here in this context, according to the hope that is laid up for us in heaven.
We have faith and love because of the hope that awaits us of this. You have heard before in the word of truth, the gospel, which has come to you as indeed in the whole world. It is bearing fruit and increasing.
So that brings us to our fourth point here. Preach the gospel so that it bears fruit and increases in all the world. Jesus commissioned his disciples in Matthew 28 verses 19 and 20. He says, all authority has been given to me.
Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching all that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
So there we have that guarantee of assurance again, that Jesus is with us all the way to the very end. Until he returns, he remains with his saints. And so it has been commissioned of us to go and spread the gospel so that it bears fruit and increases in all the world.
Remember that verse that I mentioned earlier from John 15, 16, Jesus saying to his disciples, you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide.
Bearing fruit means that we go out with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And what is the gospel? But that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. He made a way for us to get back to God. When in our sin, we were unrighteous, we were unholy, we were unworthy to stand in the presence of God.
God loved us so much that he didn't leave us in that state, but he sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins so that our sins might be paid for. And then all who are followers of Christ are now seen through the eyes of God as holy.
We read this gospel in Colossians 1 verses 19 and 20. In Christ, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
That is good news. Amen. So gospel, which means good news, is that message that Jesus Christ died so that we might have life. And he didn't stay dead, but came back from the grave so that we would know that all who follow Christ would receive eternal life.
We get his life. We get all of the stuff that the king gets, heirs of the king, as it talks about in Titus chapter three. Now we are with this message now, knowing that we have been saved in Christ Jesus to take that message to the world so that others might be saved of their sins and come to know Christ as savior.
Jesus said this to his disciples in John chapter four. He says, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say there are yet four months and then comes the harvest?
Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.
For here the saying holds true. One sows and another reaps. I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored and you have entered into their labor. Basically what Jesus is saying there in that passage in John chapter four, he is saying that one sows the message of the gospel.
One goes out and preaches the gospel, says something like Jesus said at the beginning of his ministry, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. So tells a person of their sin and to repent for their sin so that they might know Christ and have eternal life.
And maybe a person hears that message at first, but does not completely repent of their sin and following Christ, at least not yet. But then another comes along, preaches that message again, and truly a person repents and follows in Christ Jesus.
And then they might find others in Christ who disciple them and grow them so that the person who sows and the person who reaps receives the same reward. So since we have received the gospel, we need to also go and preach the gospel so that it bears fruit and increases in all the world.
And as Paul says of this here to the Colossians, he says that you have received the gospel, which is going out in the whole world, bearing fruit and increasing, as it also does among you since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth.
So here's the fifth point that we can draw from that. Preach the gospel so that it bears fruit and increases in you. Our first, our fourth point was preach the gospel so it bears fruit and increases in all the world.
Our fifth point is preach the gospel so that it bears fruit and increases in you. Folks, we never graduate from the gospel. We continue in it all our life long that our hope might be restored, that we continue to look forward to the things that are promised us in Christ Jesus.
The world is going to beat us up all week long. They will try to indoctrinate us with their false teaching. We need constant refreshers in the gospel, gathering with the saints in Bible study, rejoicing together in songs, hymns and spiritual songs.
When we gather together in church with the saints on Sunday morning, we need a constant refreshing of the gospel so that it grows and increases in us. We never graduate from the gospel. It never becomes this.
OK, I got the gospel. I figured it out. Now give me some other things that I might learn from the word. If you think that about the gospel, then you've truly not understood the gospel. It needs to increase and bear fruit in each and every one of us.
Since the day we heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, we learn it from those who have been ministers on our behalf, our pastors who are there to serve for our need. The apostles who served for our need, whose authority that we continue to submit to as they were the writers of the New Testament.
Those who are faithful ministers in Christ on our behalf have made known to us the love that is in the spirit of God. So let us continue to gather together and grow in our understanding of the gospel.
Point number one, we do not appoint ourselves to God's service. He appoints us. Point number two, we are to serve our fellow saints with prayer and encouragement. Point number three, faith, hope and love.
Let us show these things in our lives as they are essential Christian virtues. Point number four, we are to then go in faith, hope and love to preach the gospel to all the world so that it bears fruit and increases in all the world.
And point number five, we preach the gospel so that it bears fruit and increases in us as well. Lord, we thank you for this text and we thank you for what you have shown us through your spirit in the truth.
Continue to grow these things in us so that we might know, we might further our understanding that Christ is sufficient for our every need. Jesus is enough. We praise you for this, Father, in the name of Jesus.
Amen. Proverbs 23 7 says that which a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. That's a verse that's often used to preach on the power of positive thinking. Such a sermon tends to go like this. God wants to bless you, but you have to believe he wants the best for you in order to unlock such blessings.
You've got to learn how to think right before you can live right. God has got a good plan for your life, but if you don't believe it, God's not going to be able to do it. Proverbs 23 7 says that a man thinks in his heart, so is he.
These word of faith preachers like to use the King James, but for the sake of not having to translate old English into new English, we're going to look at it in the English standard version. I mean, seriously, who on earth says thinketh?
Proverbs 23 6 and 7 reads, do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy. Do not desire his delicacies, for he is like one who is inwardly calculating. This is the part right here that in the King James reads that which a man thinketh, so is he.
Eat and drink, he says to you, but his heart is not with you. So what do you think? Does it sound like that verse is in any way saying that if you think positively, you'll receive the blessings of God?
Not even close. It's saying that a rich host might use their luxuries to ensnare the less wealthy. Huh. So knowing the context of that verse would actually keep a person from being suckered by the teaching of rich preachers who tell you that if you thinketh right, you can be as blessed as they are.
As Proverbs 23 also says, do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food. Instead, we need to fill ourselves with the daily bread of God's word. We can be properly equipped against false teaching when we understand the text.
Our question today comes from Sherry in Alabama. She says, Dear, what I was recently introduced to your videos, and I thank you for your ministry. It has helped to clear up a lot of false teaching that I used to believe.
My extended family still listens to teachers like Joel Esteen and Joyce Meyer. We'll get into conversations about the Bible, and they'll often quote what Osteen or Meyer has said instead of what the Bible says.
I have told them that they teach a false gospel, saying things like Jesus died so that we'll have good health and financial prosperity. But they don't believe me. Are you able to help me out with some sources?
Thank you, Sherry. Here's a quote for you. OK, Jesus bled and died for us so that we can lay claim to the promise of financial prosperity. Now, that sounds like a joke. It sounds like something that we would say.
Joel Esteen, Joyce Meyer, T .D. Jakes, Creflo Dollar, Paula White, those who are preachers in the word of faith movement. We would say that they say those things, but they don't actually say it in those words.
But in fact, they do. That's an exact quote from Creflo Dollar. He said Jesus bled and died for us so that we can lay claim to the promise of financial prosperity. The Bible says no such thing. Here's an exact quote from Joel Esteen's website.
God wants to bless you. He wants to increase your finances. Again, that is not what we find in the Bible. Here is what Joyce Meyer wrote. And she was writing about John 10, 10, where Jesus said, I have come so that you might have life and have life more abundantly.
Here's what she said in one of our one of her articles about that verse. God loves you. And because he loves you, he wants the best for your life, restoration and wholeness. That's why Jesus Christ willingly laid down his life, died and rose again.
His sacrifice provided the way for us to find and experience the healing and restoration we need. So she went on to say, the truth is, you cannot catch health like a disease. You have to choose health.
So let me get this straight. Jesus left his throne in heaven, emptied himself, took on the form of a servant, became obedient to the point of death, even death on a thieves cross. Just so you can choose to be healthy.
In fact, as we read in Philippians 2, 5 through 11, which I just quoted in part, Jesus did all of this to the glory of God, the father. Now, when we read in John 10, 10, that Jesus came to give us life and give it more abundantly.
That's not just the life that is to come, but the life that we experience here on Earth. We can have life to to abundance here on Earth as Jesus provides it. However, that abundant life does not mean health and wealth.
It does not mean you have to believe hard enough and God will manifest those things for you. There's no difference between that theology and mind over matter philosophy. What it does mean, what it means when Jesus said, I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.
It means that even though we suffer, we rejoice in that suffering. Romans 5, 3, because we know that the sufferings of this present time don't compare to the glory that will be revealed to us if we endure Romans 8, 18.
So we can rejoice in our present circumstances because of the future hope that we have in Christ, the hope that is laid up for us in heaven. Not because we think God will make us healthy and wealthy in this lifetime.
I promise you, folks, if you believe that your faith will not sustain you. You will be disappointed because Jesus never promised such a thing. We will suffer in this life. Indeed, all who desire to live a life, a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
That's 2nd Timothy 3, 12. It's real easy to convince yourself that faith in Christ will make you great. That's why you must stay away from false teachers, because they will nurture that selfish thought in your mind.
But Jesus died because he loves us. Yes, but his underlying motivation was the glory of God. So our faith must be for that same end. Not for ourselves, but to God be the glory. I hope that helps you a little bit, Sherry, with engaging your family with some of these things.
Let me pray for you. God, I pray that Sherry would be able to minister to her family in an adequate way and draw them out of false teaching and direct them to the truth of your word. That they might place their glory in God alone.
We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
This has been When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt .com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast, or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com and let your friends know about our ministry.
Join us again next week as we grow together in God's Word when we understand the text.