Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people—the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 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. (Colossians 1:1-14 NIV)
Today’s sermon is a little different, and not just because I can’t be at church in person because of COVID. This Sunday I’m starting something I haven’t tried before. I’m going to preach through a whole book of the Bible Sunday by Sunday. Can you guess the book? Colossians! Have you even heard of Colossians before? It’s just a little book. Four chapters hidden in the middle of the New Testament. But Colossians has a powerful message: “Christ Above All.” No other book in the Bible highlights the greatness of Jesus like Colossians does. As false teachers denied that Jesus was really God—sound familiar?—Colossians proclaims that Christ is above all.
Here’s how Colossians starts: “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother. To God’s holy people in Colosse, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.” Can you tell what kind of writing Colossians is? It’s a letter. The fancy word is an “epistle.” 21 of the 27 books of the New Testament are letters. When you wrote an ancient letter, can you tell what came first? The author’s name. “Paul.” Then came the recipients. Who was it to? “God’s holy people in Colosse.” Heard of it? Colosse was a city in modern-day Turkey. It wasn’t very important in the world’s eyes. In fact, it seems like Colosse was the smallest city to have a book of the Bible written to it. But Colosse was important to God!
And to the apostle Paul. He wrote to the Christians there, “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you.” Even though Paul was a long ways away, probably in Rome, he prayed for the Colossians and thanked God on their behalf. What was he thankful for? This puts me to shame. Know what I thank God for? Health. Stuff. Vacation! Paul? “Because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people—the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven.” Not a word about health or money or vacation. What did Paul give thanks to God for? Faith. Love. Hope.
Those three words are a common combination in the Bible: Faith, love, and hope. Do they sound familiar? We could have a whole sermon on each one. But for today, note one detail about each. “Faith in Christ Jesus…” Faith always has an object. Whom is our faith in? Christ Jesus! “Love you have for all God’s people…” We’re saved by faith, and faith always produces love. For whom? “For all God’s people…” The Colossians didn’t pick and choose. Faith in God led them to love all God’s people. “Hope stored up for you in heaven…” Their greatest hope wasn’t winning a Super Bowl or getting that promotion or enjoying that vacation. What was it? Heaven.
Faith. Love. Hope. Want those? I bet you could use some more faith and love and hope in your life. Here’s where they come from: “About which you have heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace.” Where do faith and love and hope come from? The gospel. The good news of Jesus. What’s the gospel message? It’s all about God’s grace. If you want faith and love and hope to fill your life, you need the gospel message to lead you to understand God’s grace.
So do you truly understand God’s grace? Don’t answer too quickly. By nature, we have no idea what grace is. Last Friday, my family watched the classic movie “Where the Red Fern Grows.” Have you seen it? We are so proud that it was filmed right here in Oklahoma! Young Billy has his heart set on getting some hunting dogs. He wonders why God hasn’t given him any. So his grandpa says, “You must not be pulling your fair share. You need to meet God half-way. God doesn’t do it on his own. You start pulling your share, and God will meet you half-way.” Sound good? Yes! Is that grace? Absolutely not. That’s the opposite of grace. Grace is undeserved love.
That grandpa talks like us. “God helps those who help themselves.” “You have to take the first step.” “If you work hard, you can accomplish anything you want.” That’s the opposite of grace. Can you see how we revise the message of God’s Word? “Faith in Christ Jesus” becomes “Have faith in yourself.” “Love for God’s people” becomes “Every man for himself.” “Hope in heaven” becomes “If I just had____, I would be happy.” By nature, we have no idea about God’s grace. If you want to understand the Bible’s message, you have to start here: Understanding God’s grace!
In the 1700s, a man named Nathan Cole lived out east. He was a lot like that young Billy: Hard-working. Self-confident. A good guy. Until he heard someone preach. As Nathan Cole heard a pastor named George Whitfield preach, he realized something: He wasn’t a good guy. As God’s Word hit his heart, he wrote: “My old foundation was broken up, and I saw that my righteousness would not save me.” He added, “I was loaded with guilt of sin. I saw I was undone forever. I carried such a weight of sin in my chest and mind that it seemed to me as I should sink into the ground every step. Hell fire was almost always in my mind; and hundreds of times I put my fingers into my pipe to feel how fire felt.” He was sinful, and he knew that he deserved hell.
But God didn’t leave Nathan Cole there. As he heard God’s Word, as he begin to understand the depths of his sins, the good news of Jesus changed his life. He wrote, “I saw what free grace was. I saw how stubborn man was. I saw I was saved by Christ.” This is the gospel! While we were sinners, Christ died for us. Christ washed away all of our sins with his blood. Christ offers eternal life in heaven through faith in him. Grace is undeserved love. “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). There’s no meeting God half-way. It’s all God. It’s all grace. Do you understand God’s grace?
Someone shared with me an old newspaper clipping. It has the title: “I am a Christian.” Can I read you some of the things it says? “When I say that ‘I am a Christian,’ I am not shouting that ‘I am clean living.’ I’m whispering ‘I was lost, but now I’m found and forgiven.’” “When I say ‘I am a Christian,’ I’m not trying to be strong. I’m professing that I’m weak and need His strength to carry on.” “When I say ‘I am a Christian,’ I’m not bragging of success. I’m admitting I have failed and need God to clean my mess.” “When I say ‘I am a Christian,’ I’m not holier than thou. I’m just a simple sinner who received God’s good grace, somehow!” That’s grace! The person who wrote that understands God’s grace—his undeserved love for you and me in Christ Jesus.
“The gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace.” Those words are just as true today as they were 2000 years ago. The gospel of Jesus Christ is bearing fruit all around the world, including in you and me. A man once told me the story of how he became a Lutheran. He grew up as a Christian, but he didn’t hear about Lutherans until he was an adult. I asked him what drew him to the Lutheran church. He said, “For the first time, I understood God’s grace.” That’s what it’s all about! “Start here,” Paul says. “Understand God’s grace in Christ Jesus!”
But don’t stop there. Sometimes Christians make it seem like God’s grace is just the starting point. As if God’s grace gets you in, but then it’s up to you to finish the job. Listen to how Paul continues, “For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives.” Once the Colossians understood God’s grace, what did Paul pray? That God would fill them more and more. Grace isn’t just the starting point. God’s grace is the foundation of everything. We need God’s grace every single day of our lives!
Sometimes we treat God’s grace like a watermelon. You need a watermelon, so you go to the store, pick out a watermelon, and check it off your list. “I got it—one watermelon.” God’s grace? Got it! But that’s not how it works. God’s grace isn’t like one watermelon. It’s like a watermelon seed that God plants in your heart. He wants that seed to be watered and nurtured. He wants that seed to grow and grow and grow and produce fruit and fruit and fruit. Does that make sense? God’s grace is alive in your hearts. The seed is there. I know it is! So what do you need? More of the Word. Over and over again. The gospel feeds that seed of grace. It fills you more and more.
So what do you think happens if you separate yourself from God’s Word? A pastor I once served with visited a member who had stopped coming to our church. He showed up on his doorstep and asked him, “If you were to die tonight, where would you go?” Talk about getting right to the heart of the matter! Do you know what that member answered? “I’ve been pretty good, so I think I’ll go to heaven.” And the pastor boldly said, “That’s the wrong answer. You’ve forgotten the answer. Heaven isn’t about being good. It’s through faith in Jesus.” Do you see what happened? When that man separated himself from the gospel, he started thinking like a sinful human being again. “I can do it. I’m good enough.” That’s the wrong answer. He had forgotten God’s grace.
So what does he need more than anything else? The gospel. Last week, I was at a conference where a group of pastors talked about different worship styles: Contemporary worship or traditional worship or liturgical worship… Finally, someone said, “This is the wrong question. If someone comes to church looking for a certain worship style, they are looking for the wrong thing. That’s not what we need. What we need is the gospel!” Agree? The gospel leads us to “bear fruit in every good work.” The gospel leads us to “grow in the knowledge of God.” The gospel leads us to “be strengthened with all power.” The gospel leads us to “give joyful thanks to the Father.” Because the gospel and only the gospel leads us to understand God’s grace.
So here it is. One more time. The gospel! God “has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.” Who makes us qualified to inherit heaven? God does, by grace. “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness.” Who rescued us from darkness? God did, by grace. “And brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Who gave us redemption in Jesus—the forgiveness of sins? God did, by grace. God went all the way. Not half-way. I give thanks to God for the faith you have in Christ Jesus, for the love you show to God’s people, and for the hope stored up for you in heaven. And I pray that God fill you more and more and more as you understand God’s grace.
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