Colossians 1:1-14

HE HAS RESCUED US
Colossians 1:1-14 Lesson 2 Key Verses: 1:13,14 Shp Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF 6-14-09
"For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."
It feels good to get back into a book of the New Testament, for in studying this book we get to think more deeply about Jesus and what it means to have faith in Jesus. In this passage, Paul is in prison in Rome thinking a lot about Jesus and the world wide work of God. He encourages the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae. He thanks God because their faith is based on truth, their hope is in the heavenly kingdom, and their faith in Jesus and love for the saints spring from that hope. Paul prays for them to live lives that please God. There is a lot of stuff to focus on in this passage, but hopefully we can come away with one word of God to hold onto in our hearts.
Part l: Greetings And Thanksgiving (1–8)
Paul wrote this letter from Rome during his first imprisonment there (c. 60 AD). This prison was actually a house where Paul was kept under close guard at all times. He was in chains, (4:3) probably chained to a soldier. Though he was a prisoner, he did not live as a victim of his circumstances, wallowing in self pity. Look how Paul introduced himself in verse 1:1, "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother," Paul confidently identifies himself as an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. Apostle means one who is chosen and sent by God as a missionary and an ambassador. “By the will of God”, means that he was appointed by God himself. God called him to spread the gospel. It was not his own idea or his own plan. It was God’s plan for his life. Paul knew it and he committed himself to God’s personal calling. When he had this clear calling God gave him spiritual confidence and divine authority to stand as an apostle. I think that a major crisis among our young people is an identity crisis. They lack person conviction of who they are before God. We need to ask ourselves, “Who am I before God?” and “What has God called me to do?” Personally, God has called me to be a life long campus shepherd, starting here at NIU. He wants me to preach the Gospel to students in the western suburbs of Chicago and the D.E.A.R. (DeKalb, Elgin, Aurora, Rockford) area. May God grant you a clear calling and identity in Jesus Christ.
Paul had vision for the Christians in Colossae. These people were not any different then any of us today. They were a fellowship of forgiven sinners, who were living in the darkness of sin before meeting Jesus. They were practically living as enemies of God. But by the grace of God, they were changed. The Corinthian Christians were changed in the same way. Paul says in 1 Cor 6:10-12, “10nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” The Colossians were also washed, sanctified and justified in the same way . Look at verse 2. "To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace and peace to you from God our Father,” They were transformed into holy and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ. They were blessed with the grace and peace of God, becoming members of God’s family. How could such a miracle have occurred? They, like all of us, are all holy and faithful brothers and sisters only through the blood of Jesus. Not only that, our standing as members in God’s family is maintained by the grace of Jesus.
There were all types of godless influences but God kept them holy. We need to thank God for making us holy and keeping us holy and faithful. I spent a day in Chicago with family. There are so many interesting things to do…free things...so much so, that we can spend most our time feverishly entertaining ourselves and eating out at restaurants. Several times my kids said, “I want to move here.” There are so many temptations also. How easy it would be for us to be swallowed up by the allure and the culture of the city life and no longer be faithful to Jesus and God’s calling in our lives. Without God’s grace we would surely fall away and become unholy and unfaithful to Jesus. We must thank God for helping us each day to follow him and live as his holy people.
Paul was especially thankful for the spiritual heritage that these Christians were laying down. Let’s read verses 3 and 4 together, "We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints-" Paul commended the Colossians for their faith, love, and hope – three main emphasis of Christianity (1 Corinthians 13:13). Paul had not visited the church, but they were well known to him because of their faith and their love. How could their faith and their love make them well known in Christian circles? Let’s think about each component.
First, “their faith in Christ Jesus.” What is Christian faith? Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. (Heb 11:1) It involves having faith in Jesus and his word. It is not about what people can do, but it is all about what God can do and has done. It is faith in the person of Jesus. The first step in knowing Jesus personally is to have faith in Christ. To have faith in Jesus is to have a rich, dynamic, and growing relationship with Jesus. Faith is very dynamic. With faith we can do great works for the glory of God. So, let's have faith in God.
Second, “…your love for all the saints.” Faith and love are related. Without faith, we can not have love. What is different about Christians? Is it not their faith and their works of love? Faith is not static, it is dynamic. When we have faith in Jesus' love for us then we can love God and others. Galatians 5:6, "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love." Faith can express itself through love. Friends bring their friends to Jesus and they, in turn, can bring their friends. They can do this because of love and faith. Faith without action is not real faith for "Faith without deeds is dead." (James 2:26) The Bible speaks of faith expressing itself as an action and an attitude, not just an emotion. Love is a by-product of our new life in Christ (See Romans 5:5; 1 Corinthians 13) May God help us to come out of ourselves and learn to love others whom God has sent into our lives…by faith.
Faith and love can become manifest in our lives without another important ingredient, hope. Look at verse 5, "…the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel…" The hope that Paul speaks of is the hope in heaven. All selfish hopes are dead hopes and they fade away and die. (1Peter 1:2-3) They are earthbound hopes. The character of a heavenly hope is different. A heavenly hope is a living hope. We can have a living hope in our hearts and with this living hope we can overcome all kinds of trials and persecutions. A living hope in the Kingdom of God is our only true hope. Faith and love come from hope.
Where do you get this faith, love and hope? Look at verse 5 again. "…the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel…" Faith is grounded in the truth. True faith produces true love. When you hear this word of truth from the Gospels, then you get all these treasures. It is very simple. You simply need to hear the truth, the Gospel. (Romans 10:17)
Part ll: The Power of the Gospel (6-7)
These believers in Colossae were a testament to the life giving power that is found through faith in Jesus. Look at verses 6-7, "that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth. 7You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our[c] behalf, 8and who also told us of your love in the Spirit."
First, what is the gospel? Simply speaking, the gospel is the fact that Jesus died and rose again. In doing so he solved our sin and death problem. No one or nothing else can do this for us. The gospel has power to change anyone who has faith. Whenever people believed in the message that Paul spoke, they were changed. New believers received a changed purpose, life direction, attitude and heart (Ez 11:19). They are no longer seeking to serve themselves, but they are bearing fruit for God.
The gospel is constantly growing and bearing fruit. Look at verse 6a, “"that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing,..” God used Paul to plant churches in 40 cities during his lifetime. The entire Roman Empire eventually became Christian. It is spreading throughout and affecting the whole world today. It is universal. It is productive. It bears fruit and it grows. Because of their love for one another, Christians can have an impact that goes far beyond their neighborhoods and communities to the whole world. We recently saw this though Tom’s trip to Uganda where he and two co-workers could preach in Uganda and serve 1,000 people at their clinic.
Part lll: Paul’s Prayer (9-12a)
Let’s think a little more deeply about Paul’s prayer for these saints of God in Colossae. Look at verse 9. "For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding." Paul never prayed for them to get a new sports-chariot or to win the lottery or to be delivered from all of their bodily ailments. Nor did he pray that God may remove all of the false teachers that were proliferating among them. What was his first prayer topic? It was that they be filled with the knowledge of God's will. Paul wanted them to know the will of God.
What is the will of God…generally speaking? There is a will of God for each of us. God has given us his purpose. God loves us and the whole world and he wants us to carry out his purpose. So many people live their entire lives not grasping God’s will for them. They claim that it is difficult to know the will of God, too difficult to figure out. God’s will to them is vague. Some think that whatever they choose to do is the will of God. Sometimes they cannot differentiate what their will is and what God’s will is. But God does not make things that difficult. God is light. In him there is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5) Not knowing God’s will in your life is like waking in darkness. God will not let his precious children walk in the darkness. When we want to know the will of God then we can find the will of God. God will shed his light on our path. The secret is to commit yourself to living a holy and faithful life in Christ Jesus. Romans 12:2 reads, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will." The will of God is a personal matter. We must prayerfully accept it and pray for our Bible students to accept it. Then we will be blessed and walk in the light.
Let’s think of another aspect of prayer. Look at verse 10a, "And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way:…" Here Paul was exposing a heresy in the Colossian church that was similar to Gnosticism. Gnostics valued the accumulation of knowledge, but Paul pointed out that knowledge itself is empty. To be worth anything, knowledge must lead to a changed life and right living. God wants us to learn more about him, but he also wants us to put belief into practice by living a life worthy of the Lord and pleasing him in every way.
Listen to what Paul says about how to please God in verses 10b-12. "…bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light." This sounds exciting! We learn to please God in four ways.
First, “bearing fruit,” What fruit is Paul talking about? Galatians 5:22-23 read, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control.” When we are in Christ we bear the fruit of the spirit and the outer fruit of raising disciples of Jesus. The gospel works powerful changes in us. We change inwardly and begin to do good works, work that can only be done by the power of the Gospel.
Next, “growing in the knowledge of God.” As Christians we need to be growing. We can not be stagnant. It is not easy to grow in the knowledge of God. There are so many entertaining things to do. Those who give into a lifestyle of constantly entertaining themselves can never grow in the knowledge of God. They remain spiritually stagnant. The Bible implores us to always be adding to our faith. (2 Peter 1:5-8) We need to be like the tree in Psalm 1. Trees are always growing. We need to grow in our intimate relationship with Jesus. When our faith grows then naturally we can bear fruit, both inside and out. Paul says in Philippians 1:9,10; "And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ,"
Next, “being strengthened,” We can be strengthened when we have faith in God and exercise that faith. Why do we need to be strengthened? Look at verse again, “…so that you may have great endurance and patience.” We need inner strength to endure and have patience in adverse situations. This is possible when we receive power from God. Raising disciples, through campus evangelism requires patient endurance. Students’ hearts are so full of worldly hopes that they seldom want to consider Jesus. To keep a student ministry alive requires much FAITHFUL sacrifice on the part of a handful of people. To raise Christian leaders takes a lot of patience. But for those committed to the task of campus evangelism they know what it means to be strengthened by God. They know how to endure and be patient because God helps them.
And finally, “giving thanks” We need to joyfully give thanks to the Father, no matter what the circumstances and situation. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 reads, “give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” It is not easy to give thanks in all circumstances. But it possible when we know what God is trying to accomplish through us in the midst of hardships. I thank God for my family. On Saturday morning we were in Chicago. It was raining, windy and cold. We did not have the proper clothes, and no umbrellas. But we needed to walk from one end of Grant Park to Navy Pier. We were cold and drenched. We looked homeless. But we were smiling and laughing and happy. Why? I liked the exercise. Because mostly we knew that this was a God-given opportunity to reveal the love of God to Chris and Debbie’s family. And so we were very happy and thankful to embrace whatever sacrifices it took.
UBF is a missionary sending institute. We have World Mission Night to hear about missionaries and pray for them. Sometimes we wonder how to pray for them. Paul’s prayers teach us how to pray for others. We can request that they (1) understand God's will, (2) gain spiritual wisdom, (3) please and honor God, (4) bear good fruit, (5) grow in the knowledge of God, (6) be filled with God's strength, (7) have great endurance and patience (8) stay full of Christ's joy, and (9) give thanks in always. Actually all believers have the same basic needs. So when you don’t know how to pray for someone, use Paul's prayer pattern from this passage.
Part lll: Jesus Our Redeemer (12b–14)
Paul mentions a great privilege that all Christians have in verse 12b, "…who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light." Being qualified, means that you meet the proper standards and requirements for a position. It is always important to note that we are not qualified by ourselves or by our own effort. It is by God's grace alone. Initially we were just objects of God's wrath. We lived by our own desires without God and without hope. But God had mercy on us and qualified us to be his children. We became heirs and we share in his kingdom. It is a great privilege. When we take hold of our inheritance in Christ, we really have nothing to complain about. We have many thanks topics. Let's say it all together…"Thank God."
There is another reason to give thanks. Look at verses 13 and 14, "For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14in whom we have redemption,[e] the forgiveness of sins." Dominion is like kingdom. Darkness has it's own dominion. In the dominion of darkness, you can not trust anyone or anything. Fear rules our hearts. We can not get out of the kingdom of darkness on our own. Special, mysterious knowledge cannot get us out of this dominion. We need God's power. We need super power that is found in the gospel.
God has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the light. Jesus came to this world to redeem a helpless humanity. (Jn 8:34–36) How does Jesus set us free? 1 Peter 1:18-19 reads, " 18For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect." Jesus has indeed set us free and brought us from the dominion of darkness to the kingdom of love through his precious blood. He forgave all of our sins (Eph 1:7) and bought our freedom from sin and judgment (Heb 9:12) Thank God for what you have received in Christ. It is really God's love. It is given to all by his great power. Praise the Lord.
In conclusion, we learn three elements of Christian life, faith, love and hope. Paul's prayer topic for these Colossian believers has two dimensions: (1) that they might be filled with the knowledge of God's will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding, and (2) that they may bear good fruit through every good work, growing in the knowledge of God. How can we do this? (i) We must put our hope in heaven; (ii) we must joyfully give thanks in times of trial, and so grow in inner strength, in patience and endurance; (iii) we must remember the basic grace of God who rescued us from the power of darkness, forgave our sins, and brought us into his kingdom of light. May you hold onto the grace of Jesus and live a life that pleases Jesus sharing the liberating truth of God with others.