Pastor Nate continues our study through the Bible in the book of Colossians.
[00:00:00] You are listening to the Through the Bible Studio series with Pastor Nate Holdridge. Join us as we continue our study through the New Testament book of Colossians. Here's Nate.
[00:00:31] In a wonderful and strong way and sought to communicate it to the Corinthian church.
[00:00:42] If the book of Ephesians is Paul's letter to the church concerning the church as the body of Christ,
[00:00:51] telling us that we have apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers,
[00:00:56] which equip the saints for the work of the ministry that we are
[00:01:00] the actual body of Jesus Christ,
[00:01:03] living out His will and His desires here on earth.
[00:01:07] The book of Colossians then is Paul's letter to the church explaining to us
[00:01:13] that Jesus Christ is our head.
[00:01:16] Ephesians were the body of Christ.
[00:01:18] Colossians Christ is our head and that we must be wonderfully connected to our
[00:01:26] head in order to be a fruit bearing group of people, but also fruit bearing
[00:01:34] individuals in His kingdom. We must be connected to Jesus Christ.
[00:01:42] And so really the book of Colossians is a wonderful book where Jesus Christ
[00:01:47] is held high for us and we observe and study once again the preeminence,
[00:01:53] the glory, the beauty of Jesus. You could say it this way, Jesus Christ is enough
[00:02:00] and that seems to be what Paul is communicating here in the letter to the
[00:02:05] Colossian church, to the Colossians and by extension of course to us.
[00:02:11] Now the outline of this book is fairly simple. Chapter one and two, Paul is going
[00:02:16] to explain what Christ has done for us. In chapter three and four, Paul is going
[00:02:24] to explain what Christ continues to do through us. And so a wonderful epistle
[00:02:32] that we have an opportunity now to study. The letter begins of course with a
[00:02:38] greeting from Paul. These letters different from our letters in which we sign
[00:02:45] off with our name and address and all of that here. Paul includes it at the
[00:02:50] beginning as he does in his epistles and he writes in verse one, Paul an apostle
[00:02:56] of Christ Jesus by the will of God and Timothy our brother to the saints and
[00:03:03] faithful brothers in Christ at Colossi grace to you and peace from God our father.
[00:03:11] So we begin with the author this man named Paul. Now Paul of course in his
[00:03:17] conversion had experienced a radical 180 degree turnaround, a former Pharisee who
[00:03:26] had been a persecutor of the church. Paul was now the most vocal supporter of the
[00:03:33] church. The church is in one sense greatest weapon and super apostle in so many
[00:03:43] ways just use mightily by the Lord. And of course just looking at his life gives
[00:03:49] anyone great hope concerning those in their lives who they would like to see give
[00:03:55] their lives to Christ and see a turnaround in their lives. If Paul the apostle
[00:04:01] who had been Saul of Tarsus could become Paul the apostle and the grace of God is not
[00:04:07] limited to save and to change and transform any human life. Now in his letter here he calls
[00:04:15] himself an apostle, Paul and apostle. This is very normal with Paul. He excludes this title from
[00:04:22] a couple of his earliest epistles and his very personal letter to the Philippian church
[00:04:28] and of course he includes not just his title as an apostle but he reminds them of his testimony.
[00:04:35] I've been made an apostle by the will of God. Now here he includes in addition to himself
[00:04:44] a man named Timothy Paul and Timothy he says now this doesn't mean that Paul was actually saying
[00:04:52] that Timothy was a co-author with him. No the epistle is entirely Paul's he'll actually
[00:05:00] conclude this epistle in his own hand. He is the author empowered and fueled by the Holy
[00:05:09] Spirit of God but Timothy there with him at the moment and Timothy a fellow greeter of the
[00:05:16] Kalashian church Paul throws him in and says listen this is you know Timothy greets you
[00:05:23] as well. And I love this because Timothy of course is you study his life called into the ministry
[00:05:30] in Acts chapter 16 by Paul as a very young man. He struggled with his youth he struggled with
[00:05:40] physical sickness and infirmity and apparently he struggled with fear. This is why Paul had to tell him
[00:05:49] in 2 Timothy chapter 1 not to be a fearful man. And so what you have in Timothy is this man who
[00:05:57] was a major player in the New Testament to New Testament epistles written directly to him from Paul.
[00:06:05] Pastor the church in Ephesus a wonderful man used mightily by the Lord but obviously not for his
[00:06:12] physical strength or his mental strength or for his wisdom that had come to him through age.
[00:06:20] I think what you have in Timothy is a man who was simply available to the Lord and as you are
[00:06:27] available to the Lord he longs to use your life be available to him. Now Paul says that this letter
[00:06:35] verse 2 is to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Kalasi. This is Paul's way of saying
[00:06:43] this is to the church in Kalasi and this church was filled with faithful believers faithful
[00:06:51] saints who loved the Lord and were diligent in their obedience towards him. Now the city of Kalasi was
[00:07:00] not a significant city at Paul's time. You might remember in the book of Revelation John
[00:07:09] wrote letters on behalf of Christ to seven churches in Asia Minor. Kalasi was not one of the
[00:07:16] recipients of those seven letters but they were in and from that particular region. And so Paul
[00:07:24] writes to this church. Now of note is that Paul had never actually visited this church.
[00:07:34] Ephesus had come to visit Paul in his Roman prison from the church in Kalasi but Paul had never been
[00:07:42] in there. We'll read in chapter 2 verse 1 that Paul will say I want you to know how great a
[00:07:48] struggle I have for you and for those that lay into see it and for all who have not seen me face
[00:07:55] to face. So Paul did not start this church. He had not visited yet this church but he nonetheless
[00:08:04] loved this particular church. He says in verse 3 he says we always thank God the Father of our
[00:08:13] Lord Jesus Christ when we pray for you. Now on one hand this Thanksgiving from Paul is very normal
[00:08:22] for his letters. He would say similar things to the Romans in first Corinthians and also to the
[00:08:28] Ephesians but he tells them here in verse 4 he says since we heard of so there was this thanks
[00:08:39] that came from Paul to God whenever he prayed for the Kalashian church because of a few specific
[00:08:48] things. Notice first of on verse 4 he says since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus number 2
[00:08:58] and of the love that you have for all the saints and number 3 because of the hope laid up for you
[00:09:08] in heaven. Now this isn't of course the only time that Paul will speak of faith and hope and love
[00:09:16] together. In one sense this is the description of a strong believer in the mind of Paul the Apostle.
[00:09:25] He told the Corinthians continuing these things faith and hope and love and he had heard
[00:09:31] of all three in operation in the Kalashian church. First of all he had heard of their faith
[00:09:39] in Christ Jesus. It tells us in Habakkuk that the just or the righteous shall live by faith.
[00:09:49] This little phrase is repeated three times in the New Testament in Romans and Kalashians
[00:09:56] and also in Hebrews that the just or the righteous shall live by faith. You know when God spoke that
[00:10:05] originally to Habakkuk. Habakkuk the prophet was struggling with his understanding of God.
[00:10:15] He had originally gone to God to complain of the unrighteousness that he saw in his whole nation
[00:10:22] of Israel. God sought to alay Habakkuk's frustration by saying don't worry Habakkuk I'll
[00:10:32] discipline the people for their ungodliness by sending the Caldeans to discipline them.
[00:10:38] Now the Caldeans and Habakkuk's mind were far more ungodly than the people in Israel were at
[00:10:45] the time and so he complained to God how can you use such unrighteous people to discipline
[00:10:53] and unrighteous but more righteous than these Caldean people here in Israel. And God sought to speak
[00:11:03] to Habakkuk and comfort him and say don't worry I'll judge the Caldeans as well.
[00:11:11] One of his encouragements to Habakkuk was listen the righteous shall live by his faith. Do you trust
[00:11:18] me Habakkuk? Do you trust me with this decision that I am making and I believe that in God's economy
[00:11:28] faith is one of the strongest attributes that we can have just a real trust or belief in God
[00:11:37] even when we can't see the evidence even when we don't know exactly what it is that he's doing
[00:11:45] to believe in him, to trust in him, to lean upon him. There is of course saving faith. It's wonderful
[00:11:53] to place our confidence in the blood of Jesus for the saving of our sin but then there is this
[00:12:00] experiential faith. This living out of our hope and confidence in Christ leaning up on God,
[00:12:08] trusting in God, believing that he is faithful towards us. As it says in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1
[00:12:18] faith is the assurance of things hold for the conviction of things not seen. There is this confidence,
[00:12:27] this assurance that fills the heart of a believer who has faith even when they can't see what is
[00:12:35] around the corner. They have this confidence and this belief in the Lord. It says there in Hebrews
[00:12:43] 11 verse 2 for by it faith the people of old received their commendation. Later in that chapter
[00:12:54] we'll discover that without faith it's impossible to please the Lord. He is looking for people who
[00:13:00] would walk by faith and I would encourage you like this Colossian church to exercise great faith in
[00:13:07] God. To believe in him, to trust in him. Don't think of things that he wants to do in your life as
[00:13:14] impossibilities. They are impossible of course with you but they are possible with God. Trust him. Be
[00:13:23] confident in him have faith in God over your life. Paul also had heard about their love that they
[00:13:33] had for all the saints. I remember when the Holy Spirit began to drop love for his people into my heart.
[00:13:43] It was a real shock to my system. I had really cared nothing for the people of God, nothing for the
[00:13:51] body of Christ and even those beginning days in my relationship with him. Although I appreciated
[00:13:58] the body of Christ, those beginning days were spent in self-focus. I wanted to gain victory over
[00:14:05] sin and have maturity and wisdom and God's blessing and God's favor upon my life but in those
[00:14:13] beginning months the Holy Spirit began to plop a love for his people into my heart and it just
[00:14:25] radically changed my life. I don't love as I should or as I ought or as I want to or as I will
[00:14:33] Lord willing as I grow in another decade or two but that love is a gift from the Lord and the
[00:14:40] collageant church had this love for all the saints. Recently I sat down to a meal with a few friends
[00:14:49] and as we sat down we were discussing a few missionaries that we know, older married couples who
[00:14:59] are serving the Lord in what they call the third act of their lives and we were admiring them
[00:15:07] one of the couples in particular was just saying how much they just wanted to really serve the
[00:15:14] Lord in that kind of way in their latter years. Now I've known these couples for many years myself
[00:15:21] and I began to explain that these missionary couples had been loving the body of Christ and the world
[00:15:31] in that fashion for decades and what they were doing in this third act was nothing new. It was
[00:15:40] merely what they'd been doing in their 20s, in their 30s and their 40s and 50s and 60s and now 70s
[00:15:49] they were honoring the Lord by loving his people and I would encourage you love the saints.
[00:15:58] You know join in with the body of Christ wherever you are however you might be listening
[00:16:04] throw yourself into the body of Christ. Oh there's great pain there at times but give yourself
[00:16:12] to God's people love on the saints. Now Paul said in verse 5 that this faith and this love
[00:16:22] was because of the hope laid up for them in heaven. Not only did they have faith and love but they
[00:16:32] also had this wonderful hope before the Lord, this hope laid up for them in heaven. They had a
[00:16:41] confident hope and expectation of where God was taking them and what he had in store for them
[00:16:49] in all of eternity. A child like confidence in the coming future in Christ for all his people,
[00:17:00] their faith and their love had sprung from a deep confidence and anticipation of what God was
[00:17:09] going to do for them for all of eternity. And of course Paul holds this out as a trademark
[00:17:19] of maturity in the life of a believer to say I am so confident and what God is going to grant to me
[00:17:28] for all of eternity without this concept inside of your heart. Life here is just so difficult
[00:17:34] but I have this hope inside of you. It gives a flavor to this life that is impossible without the hope
[00:17:43] of heaven. I can remember those last few months of my senior year in high school. They were probably
[00:17:50] some of the the gladdest days of high school and really all of school just this sense that it was
[00:18:01] over. We were still in it but the days were short and we were going to be graduates in just a few
[00:18:10] short months. All we still had work to do, we still had classes to attend but it put fun into
[00:18:18] those last few months to know that we were out of here and to have that sense inside of the heart
[00:18:26] of a believer. It does good to the Christian soul to realize and to have a hope of in a confident
[00:18:33] expectation of what God is going to do for all of eternity in your life. Now Paul had heard these
[00:18:41] things about the Colossian church but this is what he had specifically heard. He says there in
[00:18:47] verse 5, of this you have heard before in the word of the truth the gospel which has come to you
[00:18:55] as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing as it also does among you since the day
[00:19:02] you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth. So he tells them he says listen I've heard
[00:19:10] about your reception of the gospel and don't you love Paul's description of the gospel and what
[00:19:18] had done in the Colossians in these few short verses. First of all notice there in verse 5 he refers
[00:19:26] to the gospel as the word of the truth you know in an era where it's so difficult to find any definitive
[00:19:36] truth it seems as if we're able to debate about anything and everything seems that you can
[00:19:43] find an expert on all sides of every subject. There is one thing that is so true the thing that we
[00:19:53] can hang our hats on and stand firmly upon it is the gospel the truth of the gospel notice also
[00:20:01] that Paul said it is among you bearing fruit and growing and he said that it was doing this in the
[00:20:10] whole world. I mean people all over the place were hearing of the Lord at that time it was bearing
[00:20:16] fruit and it was growing. The thing about the gospel is that it is a fruit bearing message. It has
[00:20:26] a way of changing and transforming a human life for so many people the way they preach the gospel is
[00:20:36] a pure positional message. Hey you're in sin you need to be forgiven and be placed into Christ so
[00:20:44] that you can have eternity with God in heaven once someone believes that message they then say
[00:20:51] now you need to clean up your act and live a different kind of life. The wonderful reality of the
[00:20:57] gospel however is that it is so radical and so deep and so wonderful that by simply studying what
[00:21:05] the gospel has done to us that message actually gets down at the very core of who we are and it
[00:21:13] produces fruit. Not just well the fruit of heaven now in my life and now I've got to go do a bunch
[00:21:20] of works but the fruit of a changed and transformed life. It was bearing fruit amongst the Kalashian
[00:21:30] church. This is important of course to remember Paul just said and exclaimed listen this is what I'm
[00:21:37] seeing and what I'm hearing it is bearing fruit in your midst there will be some of course as Jesus
[00:21:43] explained who received the message initially but don't bear fruit. The fruit is choked out by the
[00:21:54] cares of this world or by other messages that are embraced or just a swift rejection at the very
[00:22:01] beginning but at the end of the age the Lord will separate the wheat from the tears and what he'll
[00:22:09] be looking for and what he'll find in genuine believers is fruit the gospel is a life changing
[00:22:18] message. Notice also that Paul refers to this message as the grace of God in truth he says you know
[00:22:25] you heard it and you understood the grace of God in truth how thankful we are that this is a message
[00:22:33] of true and real grace. Now if Paul hadn't started this church in Kalash he who had well he says in
[00:22:44] verse 7 just as you learned it from a pafferous our beloved fellow servant he is a faithful minister
[00:22:52] of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the spirit apparently a pafferous
[00:22:59] was the man who went to Kalasi to preach the gospel originally we learned in chapter 4 verse 12
[00:23:06] that he loved and prayed constantly for the Kalashian church probably what had happened is when
[00:23:13] Paul was in Ephesus in Acts chapter 19 he had decided to go into the school of tyranists and
[00:23:21] preach to the disciples teach them every day it says in Acts 19 verse 9 and 10 that in two years
[00:23:29] because of that ministry of daily teaching all of Asia had heard the word of God perhaps the
[00:23:35] pafferous had attended that school with Paul and had gone out to Asia Minor gone out to Kalasi had
[00:23:43] preached in the church in Kalasi had been born and Paul refers to this man as a faithful minister of
[00:23:53] Christ. Now after hearing all of this from e pafferous Paul says verse 9 and so from the day we heard
[00:24:03] it we have not ceased to pray for you in other words Paul says we heard this good report and so we've
[00:24:10] been praying for you and it's important to notice what Paul prayed for them about here's a healthy
[00:24:20] church and Paul prays this way asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all
[00:24:29] spiritual wisdom and understanding so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord fully pleasing
[00:24:36] the him bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.
[00:24:42] Really Paul was simply praying that they would be filled with the knowledge of God's will for their
[00:24:49] lives now it appears that what was creeping into the church in Kalasi was some kind of false teaching
[00:24:58] perhaps, nosticism which merely meant to be in the know to possess a superior knowledge regarding
[00:25:09] spiritual matters there were people coming in saying well we know the deeper things they were adding
[00:25:17] to the message of the gospel blending Christian truth Jewish legalism Greek philosophy in eastern
[00:25:27] mysticism and they enjoyed using words like fullness and knowledge telling people we want to bring you
[00:25:34] into the fullness and we want to bring you into knowledge and Paul says I'm praying for you
[00:25:41] that you would be filled with the knowledge of his will he borrows their words fullness or
[00:25:47] fill the knowledge. And this is a preview of what is to come in this short epistle Paul is going
[00:25:55] to write them a letter concerning the will of God for their lives he's going to give them spiritual
[00:26:05] wisdom and understanding so that they might walk in a manner worthy of the Lord this tells us
[00:26:12] of course that the will of the Lord is mostly found inside the pages of God's holy word.
[00:26:22] Secondly Paul says I'm praying for you verse 11 that you may be strengthened with all power
[00:26:29] according to his glorious might for all endurance and patience with joy. He says listen I'm
[00:26:36] praying that you'll have the strength to perform the will of God that you discover by the power
[00:26:43] of God according to his glorious might fill the spirit that you'll be strengthened for this work
[00:26:49] and then you'll have endurance and patience as you go about this work of obeying the Lord
[00:26:56] and he says there with joy they would need endurance they would need patience they'd need that
[00:27:04] determination to obey the Lord but to do it with joy so rare but but noteworthy. Then he says
[00:27:14] thirdly I'm also praying for you that you'll be giving thanks to the Father who has qualified
[00:27:21] you to share in the inheritance of the saints and the light I want you to my prayer for you is
[00:27:26] that you'll have the thankfulness towards the Father to propel you to be strong to perform
[00:27:33] the will of God in your life if you're not thankful to the Father you won't have the juice
[00:27:40] to be able to do these things inside of your life and then he gives them some reasons to be thankful
[00:27:46] he's qualified you he said to have inheritance of the saints in the light he's verse 13
[00:27:52] delivered us from the domain of darkness he's also transferred us he writes to the kingdom of his
[00:28:02] beloved son verse 14 he says in whom we have the redemption the buying up of our slavery
[00:28:11] described here as Paul says as the forgiveness of sins now these are all just designed to wet
[00:28:19] our appetite for what is coming because in the pages and paragraphs to come Paul is going to
[00:28:26] describe to us of what Christ has done for us in delivering us from the domain of darkness
[00:28:32] transferring us to the kingdom of his beloved son showing us that in him we have redemption the
[00:28:39] forgiveness of sins and so Paul is trying to show us reasons in this letter to be thankful knowing
[00:28:47] that the substance is of Christ listen who you need is Jesus what you need is Jesus not a vain
[00:28:56] philosophy or some kind of legalism you just need more of Christ and as we gain more of Christ
[00:29:05] we grow we're changed and we're transformed don't bore or tire of Jesus Christ God bless you
[00:29:14] amen thank you for listening for additional resources and teachings or to contact us please visit
[00:29:23] Naive Holdrens.com