Colossians 1:12-14

Hey, good morning to you. This is truth in love. I'm so glad that you could join me. It's good to be with you. It's so wonderful to be able to spend time to use this technology and spend time together, spend time with each other, to look at God's Word, to pray with each other, to exalt Christ, to proclaim Christ, to use these means to get the message of Christ, the gospel, the good news, and proclaim it, share it, talk about it, grow in it.

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I.

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Let's spend some time in Colossians this morning. We're just going to look at three verses this morning. Colossians chapter 1. If you want to look in your Bible, you want to look at your phone, if you're able to do that, that's terrific.

We're going to look at Colossians chapter 1 verses 12 through 14. I'm going to go ahead and read that for us. It says, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the Saints in light.

For he delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us into to the kingdom of his beloved Son. Verse 14, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. That was for the end of verse 14.

Just so you know, I don't think that I've ever announced this, I'm reading from the New American Standard Bible, an older version, an older copyrighted version. I think a lot of people like the 19, I'm not going to look it up right now, I think a lot of people like the 1995 updated version.

I think there's an even more updated version, but I would like to eventually get the 1995 version. But if you're curious, it's the New American Standard that I'm reading from. And we're in Colossians chapter 1 verses 12 through 14 this morning, and I'm glad you could join me.

Just a recap on Colossians to catch everybody up and to remind us where we are in Colossians. The church at Colossae was a church that Paul never had been to, he didn't find, found, so why did he write the letter to the church at Colossae?

Well, he had a co-worker named Epaphras, or Epaphras, I'm not sure exactly how to pronounce it, but he had this co-worker that did found it. He was a founding member of this church at Colossae and he was also the messenger here at this time who was bringing a message to Paul to inform him of what was going on at the church.

And so this is a response to that message that Paul had heard about the folks there, the Colossian church. In the very beginning, Colossians chapter 1 verses one through one through eight, Paul is giving thanks for the things that he had heard, all these great things that they had heard, they had heard, responded to the gospel, the grace of God in truth, they understood it and they were producing faith, hope, and love.

And he was so encouraged to hear about their love in the spirit. And so he was giving thanks about these wonderful things that he was hearing about what was going on in the lives and hearts of the folks there at the church at Colossians.

And then we looked at verses nine through eleven, which was this prayer that he was praying for them, for the church there at Colossians. And verse 12 that we read just a second ago was the ending of that prayer.

We didn't end last time at the end of the prayer, but we're going to start at the end of the prayer today. In that prayer, he is asking God that he has a desire for them to be, as it says in verse nine, that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

And then in verse 11, no, at the end of verse 12, he wants them to be increasing in the knowledge of God. So there's something about this, about information that he is desiring them to have. And I believe this is due to another reason why he was writing the letter.

Part of the message that he was received about the Colossian church was that you had at least two groups of people there. You had the gentile group who came from a pagan background, and then you had the Jewish group there that of course came from their Jewish background.

And he is going to discuss this and address this more specifically later on in the book of Colossians. But, the gentiles that came from a pagan background, what they were being tempted to do and what they were doing, it seems, is that they were bringing in their former practices, their former pagan practices, their former pagan beliefs, into this new religion called Christianity.

And Jesus was just another God that they added to their system. And then on the flip side, with your Jewish part of the congregation, they were trying to bring in some of their Jewish traditions, some of their Jewish beliefs and laws and add it to this new Christian religion.

And I think Paul addresses some of those specifically, like eat what you eat, celebrating certain days, and I think there was another one. But they tried to bring in, on both sides, bring in their their former religions and add it to this new religion of Christianity.

And so he is he is addressing that, and that's, I believe that's one of the main reasons why he is, he's so concerned, has this great desire that they be filled with this knowledge of God's will, spiritual wisdom, understanding, and increasing in the knowledge of God, is because they need to know.

About.

This religion called Christianity, the knowledge of the true God, knowledge of Jesus Christ, and how it works.

And so.

He proceeds to go in that direction, and it's really good for us to to have clarity on our religion. Be honest with yourself.

We,.

Those of us who who claim Christ, who who, you know, profess that we're saved, that we're born again, that we we know God, we love Jesus Christ, those of us today that would profess that,.

How often.

Are we in his word? And that convicts me as well. How often are we in his word? So that we we know it is, know who it is whom we worship, that we know how he wants his church to operate. Because if we get, if we get outside those boundaries, then we're outside of his blessing, we're outside of his protection, we're outside of who he wants us to be.

So it's it's very dangerous to proceed and move forward in this religion, on our own terms, or on the terms of a visionary, we call our, we may call some of our pastors that that they seem to proceed in in church life, in their own vision, in their own wisdom, instead of gleaning from scripture who God is, and who he wants his church to be, and the direction he wants his church to go.

And so I believe that's why Paul goes in this direction, because they're, they know they're so tied to this, their old religions, and, and their, this new religion of Christianity is so new, and of course the, the scriptures, the New Testament, what was not completed and formed at that time, obviously, because this book of Colossians, this letter was written to them, and now is part of, part of the canon.

So Paul wanted to beef up their knowledge, their understanding of who God is, who Jesus is, and who this, who this, what this kingdom is that they have now entered into, and what it looks like, so that with this knowledge, you can make corrections, and that needs to be true in our lives.

We need to be in God's word, so that we know who God is, how he wants us to operate individually, how he wants us to operate within the realm of our family. He wants, he wants us to know how to operate within the realm of the church, the role of the leaders, our role in the church, our roles as male and female.

He wants us to have that information, and know that information, so that we stay within his boundaries, underneath his blessing, and underneath his protection, and away from bringing in those things that, that are from our past, or things that we want to bring in with, with our own knowledge and wisdom, which would lead us away from Christ.

So he begins now to go in that direction, giving them this, this knowledge and information, so that they can remain within the boundaries of who God is, and who he wants them to be. So he's desiring that they grow in wisdom and knowledge, increasing in knowledge for God, and he's going to help them in that.

So the ending, the ending of the prayer is verse 12, and he says, after he says in verse 11, he wants them to be strengthened with all power, according to his, God's glorious might. So that's, that's an amazing thing, and we can't, we can't skip past lightly and briefly about the, the power of God.

This is the, this is the power that he's wanting to, to draw from, so that they may have in, in their life, as they, as they walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, as he says earlier, that they be strengthened with the power of his might.

And it's, and it's a power that's, that we can't fathom, yet that's the power that he wants to draw from, that they may have, so that they may attain endurance and patience. And then that last remark that he says is so powerful, that he, that he wants them to, to attain this endurance and patience joyfully, and the, and that word joyfully is, as I was reading in the book that I study, he, he compared it to a word that has buoyancy.

If you are, if you are drowning in the water, you, you don't want something that's going to weigh you down and take you to the bottom, you want something that has buoyancy, that's going to bring you to the top, where you can have air, and you can breathe, and you can live.

Joy.

Is, is our.

Buoyancy.

Joy is our, our float, our lifesaver, when we're, when we're attaining endurance endurance and, and patience, and going through trials and tribulations, doing it with joy rises us to the top, so that we may conquer and, and master these things, and, and live, and it's such a, such wonderful imagery.

The,.

To, to think about what type of attitude that we should have in the midst of trials and tribulations, as we attain endurance and patience, if we do it joyfully, that, that joy will help us to rise above, and then he proceeds by saying giving thanks, which is a pattern that Paul practices, and he teaches to practice, and so even if, I, I've tried to apply this in my own life, and, and maybe you can do the same thing, because as I said, it's, it's, it's a method that Paul teaches, and it's a method that Paul uses as an example here, and, and that method is very simple, even in your most simple prayers, we want to do at least two things.

We, the, the Lord tells us to bring our, our supplications, our, our needs to Him, and Paul always includes in that prayer Thanksgiving, and so I'll try to make it a habit of mine, or to, to be in the habit of, of when I pray, I'm, I'm always going to pray for my needs and, and the needs of others, but to give thanks as well, having the attitude of Thanksgiving, that, that seems to be the formula, the method that, that Paul teaches and uses as how God wants us to communicate to Him, always giving thanks, and always bring our supplications to Him.

So he's, he's giving thanks to the Father, he is, he's addressing this to the Father, who, who has qualified, or or, or made us satisfactory, and qualified is a really good word, he has qualified us where once, once we were, we were not qualified, he has qualified us to, to share or to have, have our portion.

In.

The inheritance, and it's, it's interesting to, to look at these words individually. If you look back at, at these original words, looking at the word inheritance, you can see that it comes from, it talks about a piece of, a piece of wood, and then the wood being made to, into the object that they would use to cast their lots.

So you can, you can imagine in your mind, maybe like a, a cup, and you would have your, your pieces in there that you would shake up and then cast out, and then it would give you the information once it was cast out, what, what your lot was, what you got from the, the casting of the lots, and so that, that word, that, that language stems back to that, that piece of, that, that wood item, I can't think of a better word, that wood item that, that you would, that was, you know, similar to a cup that you would shake and, and cast out the, the contents to tell you what your lot was, but it also has the, this particular word and the context of this sentence is, is pointing us to not the, not the action of the casting of the lots, because when we think of casting of lots, we think of a game of chance, and we know with the Lord, we know with our Father, life is not a game of chance.

He's, He's not up there rolling dice and, and, you know, playing a roulette game or whatever, making decisions on what happens in your life. So, so with God, it's not a game of chance. He's not casting lots, playing game of chance with your life and what happens in your life.

The object, even though this is this is pointing to that, that item that you, you use to cast a lot, this, this word in this context of the sentence is, is pointing us to that which you gain your lot from that, from that activity, you, you gain a lot.

So it's, it's pointing more to the object being the, the lot that you, you gain. And, and one of the definitions, it explained it, you know, another game of chance is, is a drawing game. You know, where you play bingo, they, they draw out the, the, the letter and the number.

So think about, it has the idea of, of drawing out and the, and the object is what, what is being drawn out. Your lot, your lot has been cast. This is your lot in life, you know, that that's the meaning of the word lot there.

This is what you gain. But in this context, what has been drawn out is what God has appointed. Your lot that has been drawn out by God is what has been appointed to you and for you. And in this case, in this verse, the portion that's ours, what we share, the portion that's ours in the lot of the saints is light.

And, and if you look at the verse, you know, reading it again in its actual words, it says, qualified us to share us in the inheritance of the saints in light. And light there refers back not to saints, but to inheritance.

So our inheritance is the light. And so that's, that's the first, as, as Paul is ending his prayer, that is the first step in pointing them in the right direction of, of where they are, their, their place now, where they have been, what has been done for them.

They have, they have been qualified, they have been made right so that they can, they can have this lot, they can have this inheritance, which is in light. Okay. So if they are now in light, that means formerly they were in darkness.

That's the, that's the connotation there. That's the, that's the idea there. So so Colossian church, this is where Christ has brought you. This is, this is what you've been qualified for. This is what you have.

This is the lot that God has, has now given you. And it's, it's different than where you were. And he wants to make that distinction so that they can understand where they are and, and what they need to leave behind.

So then we move on to verse 13. For he, the father, delivered or rescued, rescued us from the domain of darkness. And the domain of darkness, the word there is, it's the word power, the power of darkness.

And.

It's not the, it's not the,.

There's another word that's, that's used in the original language for the word power. And, and this is a different word, and this word refers to the, the tyranny, the tyranny of Satan in, in that, in that realm, the realm of darkness.

And it also has the idea of license. So you've heard of people say you have the license to this or license to that, license to sin.

So.

Not only does it talk about having, being under the tyranny of Satan in this realm of darkness, but also it has the idea of you have the license to, or the liberty to, to operate within this realm. And this, this realm of darkness is where you had your license to operate.

Not, not in any other realm, but this realm of darkness, this was your abode, and this is where you had your license, your freedom to operate underneath the tyranny of Satan. And the study that I was doing gives a reference of Luke, Luke 22 verse 53, where Jesus uses, you know, that same idea.

Starting in verse 52. And Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders who had come against him, have you come out with swords and clubs against a robber? Verse 53, while I was with you daily in the temple, you did not lay hands on me, but this hour and the power of darkness.

So instead of using the word domain, they use the word power. The power of darkness is yours. So that.

That.

Being under the influence of the tyranny of Satan and that license to operate, that, that's the, that's where this action was coming from because they were, they were working within that realm of darkness where they had license to operate.

So that's where that coming after Christ there was coming from, that they were operating within that realm of darkness and that's why they came after Jesus. But Paul is telling them, you know, this is where you were.

That's, that's the realm in which you, you operated in. That's the realm that you had the license to operate in and it was under the tyranny of Satan. That's where you come from. But he delivered or rescued us from the tyranny of Satan.

And.

The, the license to only operate, the liberty to operate only within that realm of darkness. He delivered and rescued us out from that realm of darkness and that tyranny. And then he said he transferred, which obviously and of course means to take from one place to another.

So he, he took us out from that realm and transferred us into another realm. And where is that realm? Of course, he, he describes it earlier as.

The,.

The realm or location of light. But here he describes it as a transfer.

To.

The kingdom of his beloved son. And, and this, this idea of a kingdom is the idea of, you know, of a polar opposite of being in the realm of darkness where you are now in the the realm of light where you are, you are have, instead of being chaotic, you are under sovereign and, and controlled rule where you can see to operate in, in the direction that, that God would have you to operate.

You can see how to operate in, in a correct way, in a right way that's pleasing to God, that's good for you and good for your family and good for the church and good for the world. So you are, you are now under the, the sovereignty, the, the sovereign rule of Jesus Christ, the beloved son of God.

And one of the references is, is Hebrews, Hebrews chapter one verses three through nine, and it says, and he is the radiance. This is, this is our king. This is the, the ruler of this kingdom that we have been transferred into, the, the one in whom God loves.

And he is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his nature and upholds all things by the word of his power. When he had made purification of sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

Having become as much better than angels, he has inherited a more excellent name than they. For to which of the angels did he ever say, thou art my son, today I begotten thee. And again, I will be a father to him and he shall be a son to me.

And when he again brings the firstborn into the world, he says, and let all the angels of God worship him. And of the angels, he says, who makes his angels winds and his ministers a flame of fire. But of the son, he says, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.

And the righteous scepter, the, the son of authority and rule is the scepter of his kingdom. Thou has loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Therefore, God, thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy companions.

So this is the beloved son whom God adores. That he has given this position and is above above everything.

Um.

Oh, I forgot to read some verses. In reference to light, I did want to read these verses because they will come right back up at the, at the very end. And it'll bring a little bit more meaning and context to it.

Um, but in verse 12, if you will allow me to go back just for just a minute. Speaking of the, the realm of light that, that we inherited this, this lot that's now ours, this realm of light. Good references are in first John.

First John, if I can find it, I should have marked it. My apologies. First John one, seven. But if we walk in the light and this is, these verses are going to be so important here at the end as we wrap it up, um, but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.

And that is so important. We have fellowship with one another. This is, this is how we will operate in this new realm that we have been transferred into. We have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, his son cleanses us from all sin.

That is, that is so key. We need to, we need to remember that the blood of his son cleanses us from all sin. Please keep that in mind as we approach the end. And then, um, first John chapter two, verse 10.

This is so important too about what the kingdom looks like, the kingdom of his beloved son, this kingdom of light. Verse nine in chapter two, the one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.

And verse 10, the one who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. No cause for stumbling in him. These are going to be key texts and I hope you will, hope you will hold on to them and remember them as we approach the end here.

So,.

So we're now, we're now in, we've been transferred into changed locations to the kingdom of his beloved son. And now verse 14, in whom we have redemption or releasing, um, releasing of us due to a payment for ransom.

In other words, he says the forgiveness of sins. So he's kind of, he kind of defining redemption. This releasing due to payment for ransom is the forgiveness of sins and forgiveness is the releasing from bondage.

We were under the bondage of sin, the consequences of sin and we were released from it. That's forgiveness. We were released from it. So we are, we are no longer, if you are in Christ, you are no longer under the, the bondage or consequences of sin.

Christ paid the consequences for your sin. He bore the wrath of God on your behalf, the consequences of sin. That's what forgiveness is. You have been released from that and you no longer have to carry that guilt.

We, yes, we sin and fall, but that the wrath of God, the consequences of those sins were bore on the cross on Calvary so that we can be released and have been released and transferred out of the realm of darkness into the kingdom of his beloved son where we have been released and we can, part of, part of that living within this new realm of his kingdom in the light is being released, living, living in a way.

That.

We live released. I hope that makes sense. We, we live as released persons. We're not carrying around that guilt unnecessarily because of our sin. It's been released. It was put on Christ. He bore it for us and we can worship him and praise him for that.

As, as part of the study, um, and we're going to wrap it up here, um, with this last section, but we're in verse 14.

And it,.

It,.

He tells us that we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He, it's almost to us, the way it comes across to me is, um, yes, it's an explanation of what redemption is, but it's a, it's a further explanation.

It's a repetition of, of what he's trying to say and it's almost pointing to something and, and the commentary that I was reading seems to suggest that it was, it was pointing to, and, and Paul will do that oftentimes, like when we, when we, um, were studying Philippians, Paul would use a lot of financial language, a lot of economic type language, language that they would have been familiar with, that would had a different, that would have connotations that would help them to understand these spiritual truths.

And so it seems like he's pointing to something, to the, the Colossian church. And remember half or part of the Colossian church were these, these pagan Gentiles coming out of this pagan religion and in this pagan religion, they had, um, they had its own practices, the, the rituals and the way they did things in that religion.

And from the commentary that I was reading, part of these rituals and practices that originated here, developed over time, um, and it was a, it was a Gnostic practice, it was a Gnostic ritual and Gnostic just means knowledge.

And there was these, these people, this, this group of people that they, that we would refer to as Gnostics that felt as if the, um, there was secret hidden information apart from scripture and that you were able to attain this, this secret hidden information and, and gain more knowledge.

And so they would practice these things, these, um, these folks that were coming out of this pagan religion in the Colossian church, um, they, some of them were, were Gnostics and practiced this Gnosticism at obtaining this secret and hidden knowledge.

And in this practice of obtaining the secret and hidden knowledge,.

Um,.

The word for forgiveness has a, um, has a connotation, it would ring a bell for them, those who practice Gnosticism, it would ring a bell for them because they also use that word in some of their rituals.

So the reason Paul is using a play on words is to say to them, this is how you understood it in, in your religion, in your former religion, but now that you've been transferred out of that realm of darkness, out of that religion into the kingdom of his beloved son, this is what it means.

This is the understanding, this is how you need to understand it because God is, God is the creator of all things. He is the creator of this word and its meaning and its fulfillment. So this is, it would have rung a bell for them, but now he's explained to them what, what it truly means, what it really means.

But, but the way they used it from my understanding, it was part of a ritual that would, that simply means, and I hope that I explained this correctly, but, but using that word in that ritual meant for them that they were released from bondage so that this hidden knowledge could be revealed to them.

I hope that makes sense.

And.

Part of this hidden knowledge in this sense, when it was, when the veil was lifted and they were able to see this hidden knowledge, it was.

Not,.

It was not sin and its consequences that, that, that was the oppressor that held us in bondage, that we had consequences, that we earned consequences from. It was, it was the world itself that was redeemed.

It was the world itself that was taken out of bondage and released. So the world itself, the world system, there was something inherently wrong with the world system, with its constitution, with its structure, with its framework.

And the blame, the, the issue was from the creator himself.

And so.

The release of bondage was from this error with, within creation so that the, the world could be corrected. This, the world system could be corrected. And it could, to me, it gets really complicated and I'm, I'm sure the way I explain it, I'm sure it can be complicated for you to hear because I'm not the best at explaining it.

But I thought about how that translates into what we see in our world today, how we, our culture, our world, and what's, what's being propagated right now, what's being lifted up right now as important, is the idea that there's something inherently wrong.

With the world.

So therefore we need to have these, these structures, these, these ideologies in place.

That,.

That would help heal and fix the world. And hopefully that makes sense and hopefully you're already thinking of some of those things that are popular in our world right now, these ideologies that are popular right now, that profess to us there's something wrong with the world and this mindset, this thinking, this ideology will help us to, to heal our land, to heal our world.

And so this is, this is just another form, I believe, of Gnosticism, hidden knowledge. So, so we are, as Christians in the dark ages, because we've not been enlightened, and there's another word that's being used today that's very, very popular.

We've not been enlightened to these ideologies and the truths of these ideologies that will heal our world. And one of the, one of the most popular words that's being used today for this enlightenment, is wokeness.

Are you familiar with that word? Wokeness. Are you woke? Are you going to a woke church? Do you have a woke pastor? That is, it's in our culture. It's in our churches. I mean, these ideologies, these words are, are everywhere.

I find it so strange in our world today,.

How, how.

These ideologies are infiltrating both sections of our world. Oftentimes, in my experience, I see, just as an example, this is, this is a far cry from a good example, but this is just right off the cuff.

This is the best one I can think of. Think about Christian music over the years. And Christian music has tried to keep up with the times. It has, it has tried to have a different sound so that it was popular with the young people.

But no matter how hard Christian music tried to, to remain relevant, to remain popular, to have a relevant sound, it was always, it always seemed to be behind the world and the culture, if that makes sense.

But in this case, it seems like the, our culture and the church are almost at the same level of influence by these ideologies. One's not behind the other. There, I mean, there may be some fluctuation, but it is truly influencing our culture, and it is getting in our churches to our detriment, to our destruction, because they are in opposition to biblical Christianity.

These ideologies that you need to be.

Woke.

And enlightened to, to help save the world, to heal our land, you need to be woke. And, and what are these, what are some other words that, that you may have heard, or if you've not heard, you will be hearing that you need to know and follow?

What are some of these other ideologies? Let me know if you've heard any of these other words. Intersectionality, have you heard that word? Social justice, liberation theology, racial justice, environmental justice, critical theory, critical race theory.

Have you heard any of those terms, any of those words? These are the ideologies of a person, of a church, of a culture who is woke. These ideologies are the ones that, that we need to be woke. We need to be enlightened to, to heal our world and heal our land.

But it's, it's not, it's not the area in which we should, it's not the path of biblical Christianity, of release, it's not the bondage that we need to be released from. These things are resolved out of Christianity, but, and Christianity has an answer, but these things are opposed to biblical Christianity, and I don't want to take the time to try to explain all these different words and make everything much more confusing than it already, already is.

But.

These ideas of, of critical theory, and a lot of these stemming and, and come underneath that ideology of critical theory, has the idea of looking at the power structures in, in our culture, in our world, and, and how if you, if you look a certain way, if you, if you.

Have a,.

Have a certain position in life, a certain lot in life, and you are descended from certain people, you are, you are guilty, and you are guilty of their sin, and you are in the position that you're in, a position of power, because of.

You,.

The way things have resulted from the past,.

And,.

And just because of, of your skin color, or your position in society, or who your, your, your ancestral line comes from, you are the oppressor, and the people that don't look like you, they, they are the oppressed, and there needs to be a distribution of, not just wealth, but distribution of power,.

And,.

It, it, it's, it's complicated, and it, it, I'm not the one to, to try to explain it, but it, but Christ is our answer. In Him is our answer. Going back to 1 John, these two verses that we read just a moment ago,.

To,.