Grace Evangelical Free Church // Wyoming, MN

Grace Evangelical Free Church // Wyoming, MN

By Grace Evangelical Free Church // Wyoming, MNSociety & CultureReligion & SpiritualityChristianityPhilosophy
Download on the App Store

Grace Evangelical Free Church // Wyoming, MN episodes

  • Jesus is Preeminent in Everything

    Colossians 1:15-20 –

    15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

    Introduction

    Since the first sermon on Colossians, I’ve tried to explain that the central message of this letter and the primary solution to the Colossian Christians’ problems is “Jesus and nothing”.  That idea comes from passages like what we find in chapter 3:11 where Paul declares of Jesus that He “is all and in all.”  Jesus is the aim and answer!

    The questions, of course, are: What does that mean and how is it so?  What does it mean that Jesus was sufficient to overcome every challenge of the Colossian Christians?  In what ways is Jesus all and in all and what does that have to do with their hardships?  And remember, Paul was writing to Christians, so his point wasn’t mainly tied to their conversion.  

    As you know by now, the two main problems the Colossians were facing were persecution and false teaching.  They were constantly pressured (at best) and severely mistreated (at worst) for their faith in Jesus.  Likewise, in the midst of trying to figure out how to live in a manner worthy of God, they were being constantly bombarded with wrong answers to that question.  At best, they were given bad ideas by well-intentioned people.  And at worst, they were being inundated with doctrines antithetical to the gospel by the enemies of God.  

    And again, Paul’s first and main answer to all of that was Jesus.  “Jesus and nothing” was more than enough for them, Paul argued.  But again, how was that the case?  What does that mean?

    Before we get to the answer, I invite you to think about that for a minute.  Make a quick mental list of the biggest real-life problems you have right now.  Now try to honestly answer the questions of whether or not Jesus is enough for those things and what would it even mean for Him to be.  In other words, before we get to Paul’s explanation, let’s first make sure to take it out of the past and out of the abstract and into our real lives and our own problems.  

    • Loneliness
    • A failing or failed marriage
    • Kids who are won’t listen or are constantly in conflict
    • Trouble having kids
    • In-law troubles or family conflict
    • Some significant health struggle for yourself or someone you love
    • A difficult work environment or trouble finding a job
    • Money problems
    • Lasting hurt or discouragement from a past experience
    • Anxiety or depression
    • A secret or nagging sin that’s crushing you
    • Uncertainty about the future

      • Again, is it easy for you to see how Jesus is the answer to all of that?  Do you know what it means?  Do you know how it’s possible?  Can you see how the fact that Jesus is all and in all is enough?

      To help you see how that is the case, I want to answer three questions for you this morning: (1) Why are hard things hard?  (2) What are our options for dealing with hard things?  (3) How does Jesus relate to our hard things?

      As I do, you’ll see the big idea of the sermon: Living out of the right story is the only way to honor God in times of hardship.  And right at the center of the right story is the preeminence of Jesus Christ.  The main takeaway is to make sure Jesus is central to your story and that you’re seeing everything else in light of that.  

      To be clear, this passage does not answer the first two questions for us.  It only answers the third.  However, Paul’s answer to the third question assumes the first two questions.  And so, with that, why are hard things hard?


      Why Are Hard Things Hard?

      This might sound like a silly question.  Admittedly, on some level it is.  But until we can come to grips with the answer to this question, hard things will always be even harder than they need to be.  

      Ultimately, hard things are hard because of sin.  No sin, no hardship.  

      But to zoom in just a bit more, there are four main ways that sin makes things hard.  Test my answers against the mental list you made earlier.  Ask yourself whether or not the hardships you’re enduring fit into one of these explanations.  

      1. Hard things are hard because they involve the absence of something we were made to have.  

        Why is loneliness hard, for instance?  Because God is communal in His very nature (within the Trinity) and part of what it means to bear His image is to be communal in our nature.  When we are literally alone or relationally alone, we are not experiencing something essential to our personhood.  And whenever that’s the case, it’s inevitably hard.

        The same thing is true in the way of fatherhood.  As we saw back in v.2, because God is our Father, part of being made in the image of God is to have a kind of father hunger.  We all have a God-infused longing for someone to look to for origin, provision, protection, direction, wisdom, identity, stability, love, and affirmation—things that our earthly fathers are uniquely given to provide or provide in unique ways.  For that reason, when our earthly fathers are absent or characterized by withholding those things from us, our lives are always hard since we were made to receive those things from our dads.  

        Marriages are often hard because of the withholding of the love and respect God made marriage for.  Parenting is often hard because we withhold the discipline and heart-shepherding God designed our kids to have.  

        In the case of the Colossians, God’s design is that all people would be free to live “peaceful, quiet, godly, and dignified lives” (1 Timothy 2:2).  A good chunk of their hardship was due to the absence of that within their community.   

        Another way to say this same thing is that we will experience hardship whenever some aspect of God’s design for our lives is missing from our lives.  
      2. The second reason that hard things are hard is because they involve the presence of something we were not made to have. This is the other side of the coin of the first reason.

        Cancer is one of the clearest physical examples of this principle. My neighbor is dealing with all kinds of hard things—dizziness, confusion, memory issues, sight issues, etc.—because he has an inoperable tumor in his head. His life is much harder because there’s something in his body that it wasn’t designed to include.

        The same thing is true on both a physical and spiritual level with drunkenness/substance abuse, pornography, and greed (and sins of commission in general). When we add those things to our lives, our lives are inevitably hard because we were not made to have those things in our lives. They are like, but worse than, cancer in that way. They make everything harder in our whole being—body and soul.

        To use the same two examples again, marriages are hard in this way with the addition of an adulterous relationship or a critical spirit that they were not designed to include. And parenting is hard in this way because of the addition of disordered things like abuse or comparison.

        Again, for the Colossians, they were suffering because they were in the presence of things they were absolutely not made to be in the presence of—persecution and heresy.

        To summarize these first two points in the simplest way I know how, consider a car engine. You quickly run into significant problems if you either take out one of its parts or add an extra part to it. It was designed to work in a certain way and, therefore, it just won’t run as it should (and maybe not at all) if it has too few or too many parts.
      3. Hard things are hard because they deny us something we believe we are owed.  

        The first two reasons hard things are hard have to do with stuff that really should or shouldn’t be in our lives (according to God).  The final two are different.  Although we usually imagine they are, they’re not about ought or oughtn’t, but about wrong expectations—things we want rather than things we’re made for. 

        For example, I remember my teenage years being hard because I was sure I was owed brand name clothing.  I was regularly incensed that my parents didn’t want to pay for me to get the Jordans and Girbauds I felt I deserved.  Even though I believed otherwise, I didn’t need them or deserve them and so my hardship was self-inflicted.  Certain aspects of my life were hard, but only because I believed I was owed me something that I really wasn’t.  

        Likewise, the hardships that come from money problems are often tied to mistaken beliefs that we deserve to live beyond our means.  We believe we deserve to eat out at certain places or a certain number of times.  We believe we deserve certain types of vacations or toys or square feet in our houses or on our properties.  We create innumerable hard things for ourselves by believing we are owed things we aren’t.   

        To continue on with marriage and parenting, marriages are hard often because husbands look at trash on the internet and are frustrated by their unmet expectation that their wives would imitate what they see.  Wives are often frustrated because their husbands don’t lead them as they’ve told them to.  And both spouses are often frustrated because the other doesn’t provide the level of happiness they think they deserve.  Parenting is often hard because we expect our kids to be (as Tripp says) self-parenting and to serve our idol of quiet along with us, but they aren’t and don’t and so these false expectations weigh heavily on us.   
      4. Finally (the flip of the previous point), hard things are hard because they force upon us things we don’t believe we deserve.

        Work is often hard because we are made to come into the office on the weekend (or, increasingly, at all). It’s hard because we’re made to work on a project with people of lesser competence or character and we don’t believe we deserve that. It’s hard because we are made to take a pay cut when the economy stalls and that goes against our expectations.

        Our in-laws put on us cultural expectations that are different from what we grew up with and our siblings put on us the need to listen to certain kinds of annoying music and both make life hard for us because they force upon us something we don’t think we deserve.

        I remember how frustrated my roommate was with me in college because I put on him the expectation that the TV would go off in our bedroom before 2am. He didn’t deserve that kind of shackle in his estimation and so it was hard for him.

        Marriages are often hard because we don’t think we deserve to have our sins confronted or our individual aspirations hindered. And parenting is often hard because we don’t believe we deserve to be talked to in certain ways or woken up at certain times.
        5. What Are Our Options for Dealing with Hard Things?

        So if those are the avenues sin takes to make things hard, what are our options for dealing with them?  There really are, I believe, only two options.  When hard things happen to us, we will either seek to change our circumstances or the story we believe about them.    

        1. Change our circumstances. 

          The vast, vast majority of the ways we try to deal with hard things fall under this category.  If we don’t like being lonely, we try to find a friend group or a spouse.  If life is hard because of the absence of a good father, we look to a coach or youth pastor or someone else to fill the void.  If hardship comes through sickness or injury, we go to the doctor hoping to be made better.  If someone we love is given to drunkenness, we try to get them into a treatment program.  If our parents won’t buy us the clothes we want, we might look for a job.  If we can’t afford the vacation we want, we might just wait another year.  

          Again, I invite you to make your way back down your mental list of your trials.  I imagine that whatever they are, you’ve done every moral (and maybe more) thing you can think of to try to change it.  

          That’s not all bad, of course.  Indeed, it’s often right.  Within God’s design, we should usually pray for and seek relief from hardship for ourselves and others.  It would have been right for the Colossians to pray that their persecutors and the false teachers among them would trust in Jesus and stop their harassment.  It would have been right for them to share the gospel and reason with them.  It would have been right to see if there was any legal protection available to them.  

          And yet, as you know, not every attempt to change our circumstances is right.  And on top of that, we are often powerless to change them anyway.  For instance, putting a vacation we don’t have the money for on the credit card might provide a temporary reprieve from the hardship caused by not being able to go, but it is not a God-honoring way to change our circumstances and will only make things harder in the long run.  Committing adultery is not a God-honoring way to deal with a breakdown in marital intimacy or a lack of love and respect and will make things far worse eventually.  

          And again, it is often the case that after exhausting every God-honoring potential remedy to change our circumstances, our circumstances don’t change, which means the hardship continues (we still have cancer even though we did everything the Dr. said, our spouse is still unfaithful even though we applied the gospel to our own lives as much as we knew how, we can’t find a better job even though we looked and looked, etc.).

          Grace, it is critical for us to grasp the simple fact that if changing our circumstances is the only option for us to find relief from hardship, we’re in big trouble.  The entire NT basically assumes that Jesus’ followers will suffer hardship and not be able to do much of anything about it.  It seems from Paul’s letter to the Colossians that he assumed as much for them.  There’s next to nothing in the letter concerning how they might get out from the persecution and heresy.

          But God’s Word tells us that there’s another, more important and more effective way to deal with the hard things in our lives.  One of the essential aspects of Christian maturity isn’t learning how to change our circumstances, but how to change our story.
        2. Change our story.

          I’ve mentioned this a number of times before, but it really is one of the most important realizations any of us can make.  It’s worth repeating, repeatedly.  We all live out of a story.  By God’s design, we can’t not.  

          All four of the reasons I shared earlier, concerning why hard things are hard, are rooted in a story.  Of this, one of the Tripp brothers said something to the effect of “We’re never upset by our circumstances.  We’re upset by our interpretation of them.”  

          In other words, we all believe things about who we are, what our place in the world is, what is right/wrong, what we deserve, what success/failure mean, whether or not there is a god, whether or not there is any kind of ultimate justice/punishment/reward, etc.  What we believe about those things determines our response to everything we encounter.  

          For instance, consider the story of a person who believes it’s someone else’s responsibility to provide them with their basic needs—food, clothing, and shelter.  When that’s the story they’re living out of and they are forced to go without those things, they interpret their hunger and homelessness as someone else’s fault.  They believe they are right to be filled with a sense of indignation, blaming, and victimhood.  They might rant online or march angerly into their local government center, demanding “what they’re owed.”  

          On the other hand, consider someone else who also lacks the basics, but instead believes it’s no one’s responsibility but their own to provide for themselves. 

          One of the most powerful versions of this I’ve come across was from a scene in the Russell Crowe movie, Cinderella Man.  The very short version is this: Russell Crowe plays the boxer, James Braddock.  He breaks his hand during a match just as the Great Depression starts.  He’s forced to give up boxing and attempt to find a manual labor job.  That proves exceedingly difficult though with fierce competition for every job and the inability to use one of his hands.  Nevertheless, he keeps at it with rugged determination.  He finds a job and works at it at great physical cost to himself (even going without food so his wife and kids can eat).  Despite his best efforts, though, he eventually comes to the point that he just can’t provide what his family needs.  

          The most moving scene in the whole movie comes when he has to humble himself to the point of taking government welfare.  It’s crushing to him.  He feels like a failure.  Eventually, he gets back to boxing, wins the title and a bunch of money, and goes back to the welfare office to pay back the money he’d taken.  

          In both cases, the circumstances are the same—a person is impoverished to the point of lacking even the most basic human needs.  The difference—and it’s a profound one—is the story each person believes about their circumstances.  In the case of the first, the person believes themselves to be the victim of someone else’s failure.  In the case of the second, the person believes themselves to be a failure for having to depend on anyone but themselves.  Both situations are hard, of course, but the first person feels the hardship in a much more profound and overwhelming way, not because of their circumstances, but because of their story.   

          Grace, whether we know it or not, that’s the case for every single thing we encounter in life.  It’s not about our circumstances nearly as much as it is about the story we believe about them.  It’s not about our circumstances nearly as much as it is about the story we believe about them.  It’s not about our circumstances nearly as much as it is about the story we believe about them.  

          That’s Paul’s main point in Colossians.  Again, he says almost nothing about how the Colossians might change their circumstances—about how they might escape persecution or crush the heretics and false teachers.  Instead, he focuses on telling them a better story to live out of; a story that is gooder, beautifuler, and truer than the one they currently believed.  And then, as we’ll see later in the letter, he told them more about what it means to live in light of that story regardless of whether or not their circumstances change.

          And the heart of his story is the great reality that gaining fellowship with God through Jesus, is a treasure of infinitely greater value than any price they might pay for trusting in Him.  It is a story that no circumstance, no matter how difficult, can compare with the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus.  It is a story that includes promise after promise after promise that God is working good in every trial for those hoping in Jesus and that one day, for all who are faithful, our story will be one of only perfect circumstances, eternally.  It is a story that doesn’t erase hardship, but it does overwhelm it.  And it is a story we can trust because it centers on the work and person of Jesus.

          And that leads to the final question of how Jesus relates to our hardships.  Or, more specifically, who is Jesus and what has He done to shape in relation to our circumstances and story?  And that gets us back to our passage.
          3. How Does Jesus Relate to Our Hard Things?

          There’s a lot more to be said on this, and Paul will say more as we move along, but for now, we are simply going to consider what Jesus did and who He is in relation to the trouble the Colossians were in and the trouble we’re in (loneliness, marriage problems, kid problems, trouble having kids, family conflict, health struggles, a difficult work environment, money problems, lasting hurt, anxiety or depression, secret or nagging sins, uncertainty about the future).  No one else did what He did and no one else is who He is.  

          What Jesus Did

          We considered what He did last week.  His life, death, and resurrection were the means by which we were qualified to share in the inheritance of the saints in light, delivered from the domain of darkness, transferred into His kingdom, redeemed, and forgiven (12-14).  Paul concludes the next section, the section on who He is, our section for today, with a reminder of what He did: Made peace by the blood of His cross.  

          Because of what Jesus did, He is enough.  Because of what He did, He is preeminent, He is supreme.  Because of what He did, “Jesus and” anything is absurd.  Because of what He did, we can trust Him through every trial.  Because of what He did, the Colossians had everything they needed to endure the persecution and false teaching they were being bombarded with.  

          Who Jesus Is

          But it was not only because of what Jesus did.  He did what He did because He is who He is.  That’s the emphasis of this most remarkable passage.  In it, we find fourteen unparallel descriptions of who Jesus is—fourteen aspects of the preeminence and supremacy of Jesus.  These things get right to the heart of why Jesus is enough and Jesus and anything is nuts.  

          We’re going to spend some time each week for the next several weeks unpacking the individual descriptions of Jesus’ nature.  But the main point I want you to see right now is that it is because of who Jesus is that the Colossians could be filled with hope and peace and rest and joy even if their circumstances only got worse and worse and worse.  Likewise, I want us all to see that it is because of who Jesus is that He is enough for every real-life problem that we mentally marked down earlier, serious as they may be.  

          It is because of the things we read in this passage (and passages like it) that Paul is right to say that Jesus is all and in all and it is right for us to see that Jesus and anything is of the devil.  

          1. He is the image of the invisible God (15).
          2. He is the firstborn of all creation (15).
          3. He is the creator of all created things—physical and spiritual, in heaven and earth, substance and orientation, authority and relationships (16).
          4. He is the one through whom all created things were created (16).
          5. He is the one for whom all created things were created (16).  
          6. He is before all things (17).
          7. He is the one who holds all things together (17).
          8. He is the head of the Church (18).
          9. He is the beginning (18).
          10. He is the firstborn from the dead (18).  
          11. He is the one in whom all the fullness of God is pleased to dwell (19).
          12. He is the one through whom everything that has been and will be reconciled to God is reconciled to God—physical and spiritual (20).
          13. He is the one by whose blood there is peace (20).  
          14. And, in all of this we see that He is preeminent in everything (18).

            15. Why does Paul include this paragraph at this point in the letter?  He does so primarily because he knows that if the Colossians have anything else at the center of their story, they’re lost.  He does so because he knows that while their circumstances are largely out of their control, the story they believe is not.  He knows that their story will have far more to do with their ability to navigate the persecution and heresy than anything else.  

            Grace, the same is true for you and I today as much as it was for the Colossians then.  Our circumstances are different.  Our hardships are different.  But the most important aspects of our lives are not—the inability to affect our circumstances and a story that overwhelms them is available to us.  

            Why are the hard things in your life hard?  Above all, it’s because something other than the preeminence of Jesus is at the center of your story.  How do you navigate the hard things in your life in such a way that allows you to count them as “all joy” as James says (1:2)?  You do so by making sure that who Jesus is and what He did is primary interpretive lens through which you see your hardships.   Hard things will still be hard, but of an entirely different way.  Instead of being overwhelming and crushing, they will seem to be light momentary afflictions, preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison (2 Corinthians 4:17) because of the eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison that is Jesus Christ.

            Conclusion

            Living out of the right story is the only way to honor God in times of hardship.  And right at the center of the right story is the preeminence of Jesus Christ—who He is and what He’s done.  The main takeaway is to make sure Jesus is central to your story and everything else is seen in light of that.  

            One aspect of that is doing what we’re about to do in taking part in the Lord’s Supper.

            38 min
          15. God Provides What He Requires

            Colossians 1:9-14 –

            9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

            Introduction

            What is the hardest thing someone has told you to do?  I know some of you have been told to do really hard things in the military, by a boss, by your doctor, and by a family member.  

            More to the point, have any of you been told to do something you didn’t think was even possible?  If so, how did you respond?  Did you even try?  What made you think it was impossible?

            Well, it’s important for you all to know that Christianity is filled with “impossible” commands.  It’s a command to dead people to be born again and believe the gospel (John 3:3).  It’s a command to be holy as God is holy (1 Peter 1:15-16).  It’s a command to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20).  It’s a command to count all trials as joy (James 1:2).  It’s a command to love your enemies (Matthew 5:44).  It’s a command to lose your life so you can find it (Matthew 10:39).  It’s a command to give everything you have to the poor (Matthew 19:21).  It’s a command to love God with all you have (Matthew 22:37).  It’s a command to hate your father and mother (Luke 14:26).  It’s a command to eat Jesus’ flesh and drink His blood (John 6:54).  It’s a command to fit through the eye of a needle (Matthew 19:24).  It’s a command to follow Jesus wherever He leads and whatever it costs (Luke 14:33).  And, as we see in our passage for this morning, it’s a command to change kingdoms (Colossians 1:12-14) and to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him (1:10).  

            The question is, of course: How is it possible to do the impossible?  And the answer, as I mean to help you see, is that what is impossible for man is possible with God.  Graciously, mercifully, miraculously, God provides for us what He requires of us.  That’s the big idea of this passage: from the beginning to the end of the Christian life, God gives His people all we need to live lives worthy of and fully pleasing to Him.  And the main takeaway is to work hard at all that God has commanded us to do in the faith and strength He provides.  

            Before I pray, I invite you to be humbled and amazed by that good news.  You do not rightly understand what Jesus calls you to if it does not seem impossible.  But you do not understand the grace of God if you do not recognize that He provides what He requires.    

            God Provides What He Requires to Live the Christian Life (9-12)

            As we wrap up this section of Paul’s letter, I want to give you a brief recap of what we’ve already covered in it.  As I do, I hope you’ll be able to clearly see that God truly does provide all that He requires to live as He intends no matter our circumstances.  And I hope you’ll be able to see that it’s just as true for us today as it was for the Colossians then.

            You may have noticed that Colossians 1:3-14 is all one big prayer.  In the first half, in vs.3-8, Paul prays, thanking God for the work He’d already done in the Colossians.  More specifically, he thanks God for the faith, hope, and love He’d established and preserved in them through their hope in the gospel and through significant trial.  Paul continually thanked God that His grace was more than enough to allow the Colossian Christians to see that Jesus is a treasure worth far more than all the inevitable and remarkable difficulties they faced for trusting in Him.  

            Then, beginning in v.9, Paul moves from a prayer of thanksgiving to a prayer of supplication.  He moves from thanking God for the grace He’d already given them, to asking God to grant the Colossians a new and fuller measure of grace.  In that, we find one of the clearest explanations of how God means and empowers us to live lives worthy of and fully pleasing to Him.  That is, a right reading of Paul’s prayer for the Colossians in 9-12 helps us make sense both of the rest of this letter and of our own lives in Christ in a profound way.  

            God Provides Knowledge of His Will for the Christian Life (9)

            The gist of this portion of His prayer is: Living in a manner worthy of and pleasing to God in any circumstance (which is the very purpose of our existence) begins by knowing God’s will for our lives.  We cannot live as God intends if we do not know what He intends.  But we cannot know what God intends unless God graciously reveals it.  So Paul asked God to fill the Colossians with the knowledge of His will.  

            If you don’t want to know God’s will and aren’t willing to seek it where it is found, you cannot live the Christian life.  And so, pray that prayer, Grace.  It is impossible for any of us to know what God wants from us apart from God revealing it to us, both in content and meaning.  Ask God for both and He will grant both—He has granted them!  

            God Provides All Spiritual Wisdom and Understanding for the Christian Life (9)

            More than merely knowing His will, though, Paul knew that the Colossians also needed to know how to apply it to their present circumstances.  In other words, knowing that it’s God’s will that you love your enemy is not the same as knowing what exactly it looks like to love the actual people who are tempting you to believe heresy (as was the case for the Colossians).  Knowing how to do so—knowing how to apply God’s will once you have it—is what Paul calls “spiritual wisdom and understanding”.

            Paul knew that the Colossians needed this, that it was impossible for them to get on their own, and that God provides what He requires, and so he asked God for it on their behalf.

            Pray that prayer, Grace.  It is as impossible for any of us to translate knowledge of God’s will into knowledge of God-worthy, God-pleasing specific actions apart from God’s help as it was for the Colossians.  Ask God, therefore, to provide what He requires of you—spiritual wisdom and understanding—and He will grant them.  

            God Provides All Power and His Glorious Might for the Christian Life (10)

            Paul knew, of course, that all of this was impossible for the Colossians or anyone else.  He knew it was impossible for them to even want any of it in their own strength.  That is why this is a prayer before it is a set of instructions.  And it’s also why He asks God to accomplish all of that in the Colossians by granting them His power and glorious might.  Paul knew that God would empower them to understand, desire, and do what He’d called them to or they would never be able to do it.  

            Pray that prayer, Grace.  Ask God to strengthen you for the specific aspects of His will that you must obey today.

            God Provides Endurance for the Christian Life (11)

            Even more, though, he also knew that this was not a one-time charge.  It’d be impossible for the Colossians to live as God called them to even once, but the actual call was to keep doing it continually.  They were to discern God’s will, apply it to their circumstances in a God-honoring way, even as their circumstances became more difficult and the cost to do so grew, over and over and over.  Paul knew that God would provide what He requires or the Colossians would fail.  And so, He prayed that God would grant them (not just some, but) “all endurance and patience”.  

            Pray that prayer, Grace.  Ask God for the grace to faithfully live the Christian life continually, with all necessary endurance and patience, and He will grant it.  He will sustain you through whatever He has for you.

            God Provides Joy for the Christian Life (11)

            That’s a lot, isn’t it?  Any of that is impossible.  All of that is even moreso.  But Paul wasn’t done.  He knew that God required even more from His people.  If the Colossians were going to truly live in a manner worthy of God, they needed to know God’s will, how to apply His will, how to persevere in His will through every trial, and how to do so in joy!   

            It’s one thing to imagine summoning all your self-control and discipline to begrudgingly love your enemy—to seek what’s best for them even though they are actively working for your harm—but it’s something entirely different, something entirely more impossible, to do so “with joy”.  How do you delight in doing good, continually to those who mean to do evil against you?  It is impossible for man, but not for God.  And so Paul prayed that God would grant the Colossians the joy He required of them.  

            Pray that prayer, Grace.  Consider the one who causes you the most pain or tempts you to the most sin.  Ask God to let you know His will for you in relation to them, ask Him for the wisdom you need to translate that into specific action, ask Him to grant you the ability to keep doing that good thing no matter how long it lasts, and ask Him to grant you the ability to do all of that, not in somber self-control, but in joyful obedience.  Ask and He will grant it.    

            God Provides Thanksgiving for the Christian Life (12)

            That has to be it, right?  Living worthy and pleasing Christian lives can’t possibly call for anything more, can it?  It’s already impossibly impossible.  Paul asks God for one more thing on behalf of the Colossian Christians.  

            At the beginning of v.3 Paul thanked God for His work in the Colossians.  At the beginning of v.12, Paul asked God, in light of everything else, to draw the Colossians into his thanksgiving.  

            The bookends of thanksgiving are the key feature of this section.  Paul, as I hope you remember, prayed His prayers from prison, thanking God for the Colossians who were under a different kind of constant attack.  Nevertheless, Paul’s primary disposition, and the primary disposition he invited them to adopt, was one of giving thanks to God for His amazing grace.  This too, he knew was only possible in the strength God provides.  

            Pray that prayer, Grace.  Ask God to fill you with non-stop thanksgiving, no matter your circumstances, no matter what living in light of the will of God costs you, in the certain knowledge that your every moment is already infinitely better than you deserve, and that as you do, you are proving that your every moment for eternity will be infinitely better still.  Ask for what God requires and He will provide it.  

            All of that, once again, is where we’ve been—Paul’s prayer concerning the nature of the Christian life and the (gracious) means by which we are to live it.  

            And all of that sets us up for where we’re going.  In vs.12b-14, we see that underneath everything we’ve seen is something even more impossible still.  In those verses we see that we need God to provide what He requires not only to live the Christian life faithfully, but also to even begin it.  That’s where we’ll turn now—to the impossibility of beginning the Christian life.

            God Provides What He Requires to Begin the Christian Life (12-14)

            What do I mean that the beginning of the Christian is impossible?  Look again at vs.12-14 to see four essential, but “impossible” aspects of becoming a Christian.  

            12 … the Father… has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

            The heart of Paul’s message in those verses is that the beginning of the Christian life means being (1) delivered from the kingdom of darkness, (2) transferred into Christ’s kingdom of light, (3) redeemed, and (4) forgiven of our sins and each are impossible for us to do in our own strength.  Let’s briefly consider each.

            God Delivers from the Kingdom of Darkness (13)

            Being clear on what constitutes the beginning of the Christian life begins with being clear on what the alternative is.  The alternative, according to Paul, is to be under “the domain of darkness.”  Before any of the Colossians were part of Christ’s Kingdom, they were (as were we) part of the kingdom of darkness.

            Even though I (mistakenly) thought of myself as a Christian early on in my life, this was a totally foreign concept to me.  For me (again, mistakenly), being a Christian was merely a matter of believing in “God” and being a good person.  I certainly believed in something I’d learned to call “God” and I couldn’t even conceive of the idea that I wasn’t a good person, so obviously I was a Christian, I reasoned.  

            Had you told me then that I was actually under the dominion and within the domain of darkness, I really wouldn’t have understood what you meant, but I certainly wouldn’t have believed you.  In fact, I would almost certainly have been insulted by the accusation.  Sure, I wasn’t perfect, and sure I did some wrong things sometimes, but that’s a long way from “the domain of darkness”.  

            But what I was ignorant of is an essential, critical aspect of beginning the Christian life.  Without understanding and accepting it, no one can begin the Christian life since the heart of the beginning of the Christian life is doing the impossible thing of escaping it.  

            Let’s back up just a bit.  What does Paul mean when he speaks of being “the domain of darkness”?  He is, as we’ll see at the end of v.14, categorically declaring that every man, woman, and child, since Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, have been born enslaved to sin and under the condemnation of God that comes from it.  

            Does that sound right to you?  Is that how you understand the nature of mankind?  Do you believe that we are truly born as slaves under the domain of darkness or do you, like I did for so many years, find that to be both false and offensive?  

            The idea is everywhere in the Bible, and especially in Paul’s writings (see also Psalm 51:5; 1 John 1:8).

            Genesis 6:5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

            Ecclesiastes 7:20 Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.

            Romans 3:23 …all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

            Ephesians 2:3 … we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

            And throughout the Bible, and especially the NT, sin and darkness are inseparably linked.  To be in sin is to be in darkness.  To be in darkness is to be in sin (see also Ephesians 5:11).

            John 3:19 … people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

            2 Corinthians 6:14 …what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

            1 John 1:5-6 …God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

            Again, then, the Christian life begins with the understanding that we are born into the kingdom of sin and darkness—which, all by itself is impossible for us to do on our own.  

            What’s more, beginning the Christian life is not merely doing the impossible thing of recognizing our place in the kingdom of darkness, it is doing the even more impossible thing of escaping it.  It’s not enough, of course, to simply acknowledge that we are enslaved to sin and enemies of God.  We must free ourselves from its dominion.  And that, again, is more impossible still.  

            The question then, of course, is who can begin the Christian life if even the very first step is impossible?  

            What is impossible for us, is possible for God.  While we cannot affect our own escape from darkness’s domain, God can deliver us from it.  Underneath the beginning and continuing of the Christian life is the reality that God alone can deliver us from darkness’s domain.  And so He had for the Colossians, “13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness”.  

            And so He will for all who trust Him to provide what He requires.  We require a deliverance from darkness that we are incapable of acknowledging or effecting and God provides it.  

            Pray that prayer, Grace; for yourself and everyone you love.  Ask God to transfer you from the kingdom of darkness or ask Him to help you live more fully in light of the fact that He already has.

            God Transfers into Christ’s Kingdom (12, 13)

            If we are to be right with God, we need to be delivered from sin and darkness to be sure.  But we need more than just that.  We must also come under the domain of the beloved Son in light.  And yet, of course, it’s just as impossible to enter the kingdom of light on our own as it is to leave the kingdom of darkness.  

            We can no more choose (or even want to choose) to make ourselves citizens of a righteous kingdom of light than we can choose to simply walk away from the enslavement of the tyrannical king of darkness.

            Of this, in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, Paul wrote that the “… gospel is veiled…to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world [Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

            But thanks be to God that, once again, He provides what He requires.  We cannot accomplish it for ourselves, but we give perpetual “thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light… 13 …and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son…

            What was impossible for us, Paul reminded the Colossians (and us) is possible for God.  While we were powerless to qualify or transfer ourselves, He qualified and transferred us.  

            Consider two other passages that speak to this as well.

            2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

            1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

            Paul’s own life is a living picture of this in a very real way.  Even without knowing it, He was under the domain of darkness before God shown a Great Light to him, delivering and transferring him.  The story is in Acts 9.  

            Paul, a zealous Pharisee at the time (who was called Saul then), was “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord [and] went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.  [Believing himself to be in the light, he was in darkness.]  3 Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. 4 And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do…”

            At that time, God sent a man named Ananias to speak to Paul.

            17 So Ananias … laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized…

            Although Paul thought he was doing the Lord’s will, although he thought he was in the light, he was truly in darkness.  In no small amount of irony, then, Jesus appeared to him in light, causing him to become blind that he might know his true condition, before giving him true sight for the first time in his life.  

            How amazing is that?  In Paul’s conversion is a living picture of what he wrote of in our passage and of the impossible thing that must take place in every conversion.  

            Which is why it is so significant that God charged him with a ministry of light.  

            Acts 26:18 [God sent Paul to the gentiles with the message of the gospel] To open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.

            The beginning of being right with God, the beginning of the Christian life, the beginning of salvation, is recognizing that we are under the domain of darkness instead of the domain of light.  It is to recognize that we are in the kingdom of sin instead of Christ.  

            So how do we recognize that and move from one domain and kingdom to another?  Again, it is truly impossible for us to do either on our own.  We are powerless to escape darkness or come into the light.  But what is impossible for man is possible for God.  Just as it is God who delivers from darkness and sin, it is God who qualifies, transfers, gives, and calls us to light and Christ.  God provides what He requires.  

            The final two points are the means by which He does the impossible work of impossibly delivering and transferring.  We’ll examine both in greater detail as we make our way through Colossians.  For now, though, hear Paul clearly as he asserts the fact that God provided the “impossible” requirements of our deliverance and transferal at a great cost.  

            Pray that prayer, Grace.  Ask God to transfer you into Christ’s kingdom of light or ask Him to help you live more fully in light of the fact that He already has.

            God Redeems (14)

            Darkness would not simply release us.  So how did God deliver us from it?  We needed to be redeemed, ransomed from it.  There was a cost, fixed by God Himself, that needed to be paid. The price was infinite and we were entirely impoverished.  It was impossible for us to pay outside of hell.

            Our only hope was that someone with unlimited love and power and grace, someone with the power over light and darkness, life and death, would redeem us.  

            Kids, you know the story.  What was the only way Edmund was going to escape the witches rightful claim on his life?  He couldn’t redeem himself.  He needed someone else to pay his ransom.  It had to be Aslan with a deeper magic.  What was the only way Frodo could escape the ring’s power over him? Someone else had to carry the ring into the fires of Mount Doom.  It had to be the sacrifice of Gollum.  What was the only way Kalmar, and all who had sung the song of the Stone Keeper, could be redeemed from their fangdom or clovenness?  Someone who hadn’t sung the song had to offer themselves as a ransom.  It had to be Janner’s sacrifice.

            Aslan, Gollum, and Janner all offered themselves as a ransom for others.  Insodoing, they provided the redemption that Edmund, Frodo, and Kalmar needed, but were powerless to effect for themselves.

            Those imaginary stories have so much power because they are tied to the One True Story of redemption.  God delivered us from Darkness’s domain and transferred us into The Kingdom of Light by sending His beloved Son to pay our ransom, to redeem us.  

            Matthew 20:28 The Son of Man came…to give his life as a ransom for many.

            1 Timothy 2:6 [Jesus Christ] gave himself as a ransom for all…

            1 Peter 1:18-19 … you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ.

            God lovingly provided what He required for our redemption in His one and only Son.

            Pray that prayer, Grace.  Ask God to fill you with joy and thanksgiving in light of His redeeming work in your life and the life of those you love.

            God Forgives Sins (14)

            And finally, the ransom was for the eternal hold that sin and darkness—that our sin—had on us.  And the result was the forgiveness of our sins.  

            14 in [Jesus] we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

            Indeed, as Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:7 In [Jesus] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our [sins], according to the riches of his grace…

            Sin killed and enslaved us in darkness.  Jesus offered His own blood to set us free and bring about the forgiveness of God.  

            God provided for us what He required from us.  

            Pray this prayer, Grace.  Ask God to grant you faith in Jesus’ sacrificial death for the forgiveness of your sins.  

            Consider one more time, Grace, who is it that brought all of the about?  Who provided the knowledge, wisdom, understanding, strength, endurance, joy, and thanksgiving we need to live the Christian life?  God provided what we needed.  And who was it that provided the deliverance, transferal, redemption, and forgiveness we need to begin the Christian life?  God provided, yet again, all we needed.  

            Conclusion

            I conclude, then, with one more question.  If God provides all that He requires, what do we do?  

            We trust in God’s provision and we give ourselves entirely, in faith, and in the strength God provides, to do all that God has revealed.  The great mystery of our relationship to God, in all His awesome, sovereign providence, is that we really do make real choices that have real effects and often require hard work and significant sacrifice.  

            The mystery is profound, but it’s important for us to recognize that God’s providential and revealed wills are often presented side-by-side in the Bible without any hesitation. That is, God’s sovereignty and our responsibility are often right next to each other with no hint of contradiction.  

            Consider Paul’s charge in Philippians 2:12-13, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling [Obey, work at God’s revealed will.  Do it.  Don’t forsake it.  It’s essential.  Why?], 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” [Obey and work hard at God’s revealed will because you know for certain that God’s providential will guarantees that it will never be in vain.]”.

            That’s the big idea of this passage: from the beginning to the end of the Christian life, God gives His people all we need to live lives worthy of and fully pleasing to Him.  And the main takeaway is to work hard at all that God has commanded us to do in the faith and strength He provides.  That was Paul’s message to the Colossians in light of all they faced.  And it is God’s message for us today.  May it be so.  Amen.

            44 min
          16. Filled with the Knowledge of God’s Will

            Colossians 1:9-12 –

            9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

            Introduction

            I’ve always found it interesting that God designed things in such a way that there is a concentration of some of the most significant, whole-life-effecting decisions we’ll make right at the beginning of adulthood.  We need wisdom and understanding concerning God’s will in droves at the same time we’re just beginning to value and acquire it. 

            I experienced this in what felt like a nearly overwhelming weight.  By the end of my junior year in college, I had only recently come to faith in Jesus, had not yet read through the Bible even once, and had an almost entirely blank slate when it came to a Christian worldview (I didn’t even know what that was yet).   And yet, I needed to make some of the biggest decisions of my life—when to get married, what to do for work, whether to stay in the area for another year so Gerri could finish school or jump right into some kind of ministry or ministry prep, where to live, etc.  

            There were some godly men in my life at the time, but they weren’t much older or further along in life than I was.  It was before the internet was much of a thing, so I couldn’t just Google it.  And, most significantly, I was only tangentially connected to a local church.  In other words, I didn’t know what to do or how to find out.

            I worked through much of that as best I could.  Gerri and I got married the following summer and decided to spend our first year of marriage working together with a ministry that had us in a different city most days and a different state most weeks.  

            As that came to an end, about a year later, we were faced with many of the same questions all over again.  We were still immature in our faith and had even less access to godly counsel and wisdom this time since we’d been so disconnected for the previous year.

            There are few memories more etched in my mind that that of earnestly wanting to know God’s will during that time.  Looking back, I can see now that I didn’t really even know what that meant.  When it came to trying to figure out what God wanted from me in specific decisions, I only had a vague sense of praying sincere prayers and hoping that God would somehow let me know what to do.  

            Very sincere, and somewhat desperate, I did the only thing I could think of.  I emailed John Piper.  I’d never met him or had any kind of communication with him.  I didn’t even know someone who had.  I’d heard him speak at a conference, read a couple of his books, and read quite a few of his sermons, but that’s it.  I just knew that I didn’t know anyone at the time with that kind of biblical insight and wisdom.  So, I sent him an email.

            Actually, I didn’t have his email address.  I must have sent it to some general church (or DG?) email address I’d found.  Not surprisingly, I never heard back from him.  But to the church’s credit, someone from the church did reply.  He pointed me to a book (Gary Friesen’s, Decision Making and the Will of God) that is still, 30 years later, in the top 3-4 (non-biblical) things I’ve ever read in terms of creating an immediate and lasting change in my life.  

            The short version of the book’s message is that the Bible speaks of God as having two wills (in a sense).  One is His providential will and the other is His revealed will.  From this, I quickly learned three things: 1) Failing to make the distinction between them was at the heart of much of my confusion and angst, and 2) I had a long way to go to gain the knowledge and wisdom I needed to make good decisions.  

            All of that autobiography was meant to get us to Paul’s prayer, asking God to fill the Colossians with “the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.”   And to help us feel the need to have clear answers on a few questions: 1) What are the two wills of God?  2) Which of the two wills was Paul praying that God would reveal to the Colossians? 3) Why was he asking God for that?  And 4) What difference does that make for us?

            As I seek to answer those questions from God’s Word, you’ll see the big idea of the sermon: God has revealed to us everything we need to know to know His will, to know what it means to live in a manner worthy of Him.  He does so through His Word, with the help of His Spirit and Church.  The main takeaway, then, is to be a people of His Word, Spirit, and Church.  

            The Wills of God

            As we turn our attention to the “two wills” of God, I imagine that if you’re not already familiar with that concept (and maybe even if you are), it probably sounds funny.  It might sound a little like the two wills of Paul in Romans 7, “I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate” or like God can’t quite make up His mind about stuff.  

            Indeed, the idea of God having two wills should sound funny because it’s definitely not true in either of those ways and it’s only true in a certain sense.  In reality, God has one, perfect will.  He perfectly knows what’s best and always wants what’s best.  He is truly single-minded in the most significant way.  

            In what sense do we say He has two wills, then? Only in the sense of our perception.  It’s a way of describing two ways in which God reveals His will to the world.  Again, then, before seeing how all of this applies to the Colossians and us, let’s consider the two ways God reveals His will to the world.

            God’s Providential Will

            The first has been called many things: God’s “sovereign will” or “efficacious” will or His “decretive” will or His “eternal” will.  I prefer to call it His “providential will.”  Whichever name you prefer, the meaning is the same: There are certain things that God has determined to bring about and nothing can stop or even slow Him down from accomplishing those things.  God’s providential will is all that He has sovereignly determined to bring to pass.  

            Perhaps the most succinct and well-known verse on God’s providential will is Ephesians 1:11. There Paul declares that God “works all things according to the counsel of His will.”  

            Similarly, we’re told in Romans 8:28 that “God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose…”

            Proverbs 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD. 

            Lamentations 3:37 Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it?

            Isaiah 46:9-10  I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, “My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose…”

            Daniel 4:35 [God] does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand…

            Colossians 1:17 [God] is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

            These are just a few of the many biblical passages that teach the same idea of God having a providential will.  Collectively, they reveal the key features of this will of God:

            1. In includes everything that God has sovereignly determined to do in His own power.  
            2. It is secret from us until it happens.  We simply cannot know it before it comes to pass.
            3. We are not responsible to know it or make decisions in light of it.  
            4. Most of what God wills falls under this category.  Most of what God does, He does not reveal to us in advance or expect us to take into account when making decisions.

              5. Without really knowing it, most of my angst as a young man came from trying to discern God’s providential will.

              My prayers were essentially, “God, which job should I take?  Please reveal it to me.”  And, “God, I want to honor you in my whole life.  Please let me know when is the right time to propose to Gerri.”  And, “God, what is your will for where we live after graduation?”  

              Those prayers reflected a faithful heart and a right impulse, but they also largely reflect an ignorance concerning the will of God.  I was asking God to reveal to me that which He has determined to keep hidden.  There is no way for that to not be frustrating.  It is right to pray for those things, but my lack of understanding of where to go from there was the problem.  

              God’s Revealed Will

              The “other” will of God is His “revealed” will (others have called it His “perceptive” will).   It refers to the passages in the Bible in which God has explicitly told us what He requires of us.  In that way, wherever we find a command of God or normative principle from God in the Bible, we have His revealed will.  

              The lowest hanging fruit is the Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20:3-17.

              3 “You shall have no other gods before me. 

              4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image…

              7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain…

              8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy… 

              12 “Honor your father and your mother… 

              13 “You shall not murder. 

              14 “You shall not commit adultery. 

              15 “You shall not steal. 

              16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 

              17 “You shall not covet … anything that is your neighbor’s.” 

              Likewise, we find another example of the low hanging fruit of God’s revealed will in Luke 10:27, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

              As we make our way through Colossians, we’ll find many aspects of God’s revealed will.  

              Colossians 2:6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him…

              Colossians 3:2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

              Colossians 3:5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

              Colossians 3:12-13 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other…

              Colossians 3:18-21 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. 20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.

              And let us never forget the revealed will of God in Deuteronomy 14:21, “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

              Again, as I’m sure you can imagine, there are many, many more passages in the Bible in which we find God’s revealed will.  And again, collectively, they teach us the key aspects of this will of God:

              1. It was given gradually over millennia, but has now been completely revealed to us in the Bible.    
              2. In the Bible, God has revealed to us everything we need to know to honor God in any/every situation and with any/every decision (1 Timothy 3:16-17).  
              3. God’s revealed will often comes in the form of broader principles that apply to our situation, rather than specific instruction (telling us the kind of girl we should marry rather than the specific girl; letting us know what good work is and what it’s for, rather than the specific job we should take; revealing to us the things we ought to value in life, rather than telling us specifically where to live; etc.).   
              4. We are responsible to know God’s revealed will.  No one will be unaccountable for their actions because they do not have it (Romans 1).
              5. God has put His Spirit in us to give us wisdom and understanding, recall, and power to rightly apply God’s revealed will (Matthew 10:19-20; Acts 1:8).  And also to convict us of our sin when we don’t (John 18:8-11).
              6. God has given us pastors and teachers to help us understand and apply His revealed will (Ephesians 4:11-13).  
              7. God has given us other believers to help us live in light of His revealed will (Hebrews 10:24-25).

                8. How exactly God’s “two wills” can continually function simultaneously is often a mystery, but where the Bible affirms it, we accept it in faith and gladness.

                God’s Will for the Colossians

                All of that brings us back, full circle, to the question of which of those wills Paul was asking God to reveal to the Colossians.  When we read Colossians 1:9, (And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding), was Paul asking God to fill them with the knowledge of His providential or revealed will?  

                It is, as I imagine you already know, the second aspect of God’s will, His revealed will, that Paul was asking God to fill the Colossians with. Paul was not praying that God would reveal His will of providence, but His will of decree.  He wanted God to make it plain what was required of them in their current circumstances.  

                If you’ve been here since we began making our way through Colossians, it shouldn’t be hard to imagine why Paul was asking God to reveal His will to the Colossians or why the Colossians would have been so eager to receive it.  

                They were a church of newer believers in a hostile land.

                They were, along with the rest of the early Church, trying to figure out what it meant to live in the New Covenant.

                Many who professed faith in Christ were being severely persecuted, imprisoned, and even killed.  

                On top of all that, and central to this letter, the Colossians were being bombarded with a dangerous heresy that was, in effect, a “different gospel,” which is no gospel at all.  

                And on top of that still, while they had the entire OT text, the NT was not yet finished.  

                Grace, as you know, it’s really hard to be in a place that’s really hard.  Genuinely not knowing what God would have you do in that place is exponentially harder still.  Have you ever felt that?  Have you ever prayed a prayer like this for yourself or someone you love?

                “God, I would be willing to pay any price that obedience would cost me in this moment, but I don’t know what obedience ought to look like.  It’s one thing to suffer for righteousness, but it’s something entirely different to suffer not knowing if what I’m doing is right or not.  Please fill me with the knowledge of your will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding in order that I may act in a manner worthy of and pleasing to you.”

                Again, if you’ve ever prayed a prayer like that, it shouldn’t be hard to put yourself in the shoes of the Colossians or Paul who was praying for them.  They needed to know the truth about God and what He would have them do.

                Essentially, then, in light of what we’ve seen regarding God’s revealed will, in asking God to fill the Colossians with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, Paul was asking for four things:

                1. That the Spirit would direct the Colossians to the OT passages that taught on the aspects of God’s nature that ought to shape their perspective on their circumstances (especially, as we saw last week, that He is eternally Triune, creator, sovereign, wise, good, holy, just, and gracious). 
                2. That the Spirit would lead them to, or remind the Colossian believers of, whatever OT passages—commands, promises, and principles—applied to their situation.  Where God had already revealed His will concerning their lives, Paul was asking God to make that clear to them so that they might act on it.  
                3. That the Spirit would provide clarity through Paul’s letter (which, whether he or they knew it or not, was God’s revealed will itself).  In that way, Paul’s letter was a significant part of the answer to His own prayer and he was asking God to help them receive it as such.
                4. Fourth and finally, Paul prayed that the Spirit would take these revealed truths concerning His will and fill them with the wisdom and understanding they needed to apply them to their specific situation.  They needed, for instance, not only to know that Jesus is over all and in all, but also the wisdom to know how to apply that knowledge to the heresy they were being confronted with and the people who confronted them with it.  Likewise, they needed to know not only that Jesus brought in a New Covenant, but also the wisdom to know what to do with the old covenant laws in light of it.  

                  5. It’s one thing to want to honor God in a situation.  It’s something else to know precisely what that means.  Paul was asking God to grant both to the Colossians…to fill them with (1) the knowledge of His (revealed) will (what He wanted from them), (2) in all spiritual wisdom and understanding (how to put into practice what God wanted).  

                  God’s Will for Us Today

                  I want to end the sermon by putting two more enormous and essential questions to you: 1) Do you want to know God’s will?  And 2) Are you willing to walk the path God has paved for you to get it?

                  Do You Want to Know God’s Will?

                  Do you want to know God’s will?  On the surface, this might sound like an obvious question with an obvious answer, but I encourage you to really consider it.

                  Of course, there are many things that everyone of us would love to know God’s will concerning; some among us, desperately so (like I described as a young 20-something with huge decisions in front of me).

                  You might even have a list of things you’re eager for clarity on.  

                  But, if you’re being totally honest, there are also areas of your life that you would like to keep just as they are, that you’d rather not know the will of God for if it would mean needing to change them.

                  Likewise, if you’re being totally honest, there are also areas of your life that you already know what God would have you do, but you’re not doing it, because you don’t like His will.

                  And, if your being honest, there are areas of your life that you gladly, mistakenly think are in line with God’s will.

                  The bottom line is that none of us are living entirely in line with God’s will, because none of us are perfectly sanctified, and because none of us are perfectly sanctified, none of us truly want to live entirely in light of God’s will.  All of us still have appetites for things of this world, things of our flesh, things even of the devil.  What God wants for us is often scary for those not yet wholly conformed to Christ (which is all of us).

                  Do you want to sacrifice your only son on an alter if that’s God’s will for you as it was for Abraham?

                  Do you want to lay on your side for a year as an enacted prophecy against God’s people if that’s God’s will for you as it was for Ezekiel?

                  Do you want to marry a prostitute and name your kid “no mercy” if that’s God’s will for you as it was for Hosea?

                  Do you want to sell everything you have and give it to the poor if that’s God’s will for you as it was for the rich man?

                  Do you want to follow Jesus unto severe persecution if that’s God’s will for you as it was for His first followers?

                  Those are just some of the hard things God willed for His people (explicitly called them to) in the Bible.   Do you want to know God’s will even if it means something like that?  

                  And so, before you say yes to that question, consider carefully what it really means—your entire life, down to the smallest detail, entirely conformed to God’s will for you (no matter how radically different it would be, no matter what it would cost you in earthly terms, no matter what it would mean leaving behind or taking on, no matter what it would do to your reputation or family or job or comfort or life)?

                  By the grace of God, in faith, though, we say YES!, Grace Church.  We say “Yes,” even if with some measure of fear, knowing that whatever God has for us is infinitely greater than every alternative, no matter how difficult or painful.  We count everything as loss, as trash, compared to Christ.  Truly, we know that to live according to the revealed will of God is Christ and to die because of it is gain.  We say “Yes” in the knowledge that God’s revealed will is worth more than the finest gold and greatest earthly treasure.  We say “Yes” in faith, knowing that it is the surest sign that our hope really is in Jesus.  It’s often hard, but we say “Yes,” knowing it’s always right.

                  Are You Willing to Walk the Path God Has Paved for You to Get it?

                  Finally, then, are you willing to walk the path God has paved for you to know His will? Saying “Yes” to the first question requires saying “Yes” to this one as well.  

                  But make no mistake, Grace, walking the path God has paved for us to get His revealed will doesn’t happen by accident.  We must not only choose it, but we must continually choose it.    

                  In simplest terms, discovering God’s revealed will for any situation we find ourselves in, is a matter of rightly gathering, interpreting, combining, and applying all the relevant passages of the Bible to that situation.  

                  If you want to know if you should get married and to whom, for instance, learning God’s will means having a grasp on all the passages in the Bible that speak to the nature of marriage and the things God requires of you and your spouse in it.  Then you begin praying that God would help you love and conform to His design, equip you to fulfill your roles in it, and give you eyes to spot a someone who shares those things as well.  

                  Walking this path, as you can certainly imagine and have probably experienced, is often difficult.  Finding all the right passages can be daunting.  Properly interpreting them is often elusive.  Faithfully combining them to gain a comprehensive understanding of God’s will is usually tricky.  And then knowing specifically how to apply all of that is regularly intimidating as well.  

                  Doing any of those things means at least three things according to God’s revealed will.  It means reading the Bible, praying continually for the Spirit’s help, and making use of all the means of grace God has given.  

                  1. Read the Bible.  Read it every day.  You don’t have to read a lot each day and you don’t have to read in a certain order, but if you want to know God’s will you do have to read the Bible, the whole Bible.  You have to read it eager for understanding and application (knowing that the goal is not only knowledge, but worthy lives).  You have to come to understand what God has really said and what it means to live in light of it.
                  2. Pray continually for the Spirit’s help.  We will never want to know God’s will apart from the Spirit’s help.  We will never look for it by reading the Bible apart from the Spirit’s help.  We will never understand what we read in the Bible apart from the Spirit’s help.  We will never know what to do with what we understand apart from the Spirit’s help.  And we will never, as Paul prays in v.11, joyfully persevere in understanding of and obedience to the will of God apart from the Spirit’s help.  Therefore, Grace, let us pray continually that we would read the Bible, while we read the Bible, and in light of what we read in the Bible.  

                    Years ago, I learned to pray IOUS.  I have it as a digital sticky note on my desktop.

                    Incline my heart to you, not to prideful gain or any false motive (Psalm 119:36).  Open my eyes to behold wonderful things in your Word (Psalm 119:18).  Unite my heart to fear your name (Psalm 86:11).  Satisfy me with your steadfast love (Psalm 90:14).
                  3. Make use of the means of grace God has put in the church.  Helping you grow to understand God and His Word is the whole point of Berea.  There we cycle through (every 5-6 years) the most essential tools you need to read God’s Word well—biblical theology, systematic theology, hermeneutics, Church history, and worldview.  Expositional preaching, the central aspect of our worship service, is meant to help you drink the pure milk and eat the solid food of God’s Word.  Discipleship groups focus on pressing further into the preached Word.  If you are a member, you have five elders (and one in particular) committed to feeding you God’s Word and helping you gain the wisdom you need to apply it well.  And one of the primary commitments we make to one another as members is to spur one another on to living as God’s Word calls us to.  

                    4. That’s the path God has paved for us to walk to get His will.  Will you walk it with us, Grace?

                    If so, in closing, I invite you to consider some specific decision you need to make in the coming days/weeks.  When you walk the path God has given you to discern His will for that decision, there will often be two or three options that you can choose from.  Rightly applying God’s revealed will to our decisions usually means there are several jobs that would equally honor God, a number of people who would make a God-honoring spouse, two or three ways you could serve the Church, etc.

                    Whenever that’s the case, whenever we walk the path God has given us to discern His will for our circumstances and several options seem equally faithful to His Word, we are free to choose the one that is most appealing to us in the glad confidence that God’s providential will, will prevail.  

                    This is how Paul prayed for the Colossians for their circumstances and this is how I pray for us now.  

                    Although we will never have a perfect grasp on everything God has said and what it means to apply it, we can get closer and closer as we grow in understanding and making use of His means of grace.  And along the way, the gospel is good news that whenever we offer our obedience in genuine faith, in Christ, God will receive our imperfect obediences as righteousness.  

                    God has revealed to us everything we need to know to know His will, to know what it means to live in a manner worthy of Him.  He does so through His Word, with the help of His Spirit and Church.  Let us, therefore, give ourselves in increasing measure to being a people of His Word, Spirit, and Church.  And all of that because Jesus Christ, as Paul proclaimed, is over all and in all!

                    40 min
                  4. Increasing in the Knowledge of God

                    Colossians 1:9-12 –

                    9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

                    Introduction

                    I’ve been asked how long we’re likely to be in Colossians quite a few times already.  It’s a reasonable question on several levels; one I wonder about myself.  The short answer is that I don’t know.  And one of the main reasons for that, is that it hinges on the question of how much of the theology/doctrine of Colossians am I going to preach.

                    This morning’s sermon is an example of what I mean.  In this passage, Paul let the Colossians know that he was praying for them, asking God (among other things) to cause them to be ever “increasing in the knowledge of God” (v.10).  As I hope to have made clear last week, knowledge of God is the most significant and critical knowledge of all.  It is impossible to live in this world as it is and as we ought apart from knowing who God really is.  

                    Paul most certainly understood that and said as much in this passage.  In that way, he introduced the doctrine of God.  What he did not do, however, is unpack that doctrine in any significant way.  He’ll say more about God throughout the letter, but most of the knowledge of God he has in mind is merely assumed and asserted.  

                    He does that often in this letter (introduces a doctrine, but does not expand on it).  The question I’m faced with, then, once again, is how much do I expand on the doctrines Paul introduces.  

                    There’s a risk in doing so too much. By doing so, I’d not be preaching Colossians as much as I’d be using Colossians as a launching point for a class on doctrine.  That might be OK for Berea, but it is not OK for preaching.  That kind of preaching undercuts our understanding of the diversity of the books of the Bible and it essentially devolves into topical preaching.  

                    At the same time, there’s risk in preaching too little of Paul’s doctrine as well.  The risks there are in not making plain all the things that would have been plain to the first audience and in undercutting the unity of the collected books of the Bible.  

                    Finding the healthy path between those ditches is what I’m after.  Pray for me.

                    As I unpack Paul’s doctrine of God, then, you’ll see the big ideas of this sermon: (1) God is who He is, (2) Who God is, is woven through every line of this letter, and (3) The nature and purpose of everything is rooted in who God is.  The main takeaways are to (1) Prayerfully and carefully learn who God really is and (2) Order everything according to that.   

                    God Is Who He Is

                    God is who He is, who God is, is woven through every line of Colossians, and most significantly and staggeringly, the nature and purpose of everything is rooted in who God is.  Given those truths, it ought to be self-evident that we really, really need to learn who God is.

                    Already in Colossians, Paul has assumed and asserted a handful of aspects of God’s nature.  Consider what we find in that regard in just the first fourteen verses of the letter.  

                    In 1:1 (and 25) we catch a glimpse of Paul’s belief in God’s sovereignty when he describes his apostleship/life’s mission as having come “by the will of God.”  We see basically the same thing in the fact that Paul prays to God in 1:3 and 9 as the one who hears and can respond.    

                    That Paul understood God to be gracious and peaceful are assumed in 1:2, 6.

                    Paul knew God to be generous and good.  Those attributes are embedded in 1:3-5, 12 where Paul gives thanks to God for granting faith, hope, and love to the Colossians.  

                    God is the “Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” Paul notes in passing in 1:3.

                    Woven throughout 1:3-14 (5, 6, 9) is Paul’s conviction that God is Truth.

                    In 1:8 we see that Paul has an understanding of the Holy Spirit as the giver of mutual love within the church.  

                    God is worthy of our full devotion for Paul (1:9).

                    Paul knew God to be omnipotent, having “all power” and “glorious might” (1:11, 29).

                    And God is the King who delivers sinners from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light (1:13-14).

                    I hope it’s easy to see what I said earlier: That although everything in Colossians is rooted in Paul’s beliefs about who God is, most of what Paul believed about God is merely assumed and asserted.  

                    To help you get a better grasp on what Paul believed about God, then, we’re going to take a higher-level look at eight of the most fundamental aspects of God’s nature for Paul.  This is critical both because (1) all his NT writing and his entire ministry were built upon these convictions and (2) because these are the things he was asking God to reveal to the Colossian church as the foundation of their faithfulness.  

                    As I tried to show you in the brief overview of Colossians 1:1-14—which is equally true throughout all of the letter—these convictions leaked out of everything Paul said and did, even as they were at the heart of the ever-increasing knowledge of God that Paul prayed for God to grant the Colossians.  

                    We need this now in order to be able to recognize it throughout the letter and throughout our own lives.  Let’s spend a bit of time, then, considering that God is: Eternally Trinitarian, creator, sovereign, wise, good, holy, just, and gracious.  And with each attribute, I want to give you a few biblical examples of where Paul found it/where we find it in Paul, I want to help you see what difference that knowledge would make for the Colossians, and I want to briefly give you an example of what difference it makes for us today.  

                    The simple fact is, Grace Church, we will either learn from Paul that we ought to be able to trace every single aspect of our lives to some aspect of God’s nature or we will continue to live disordered lives.  

                    For instance, we cannot be the kind of parents we’re made to be apart from understanding the Fatherhood of God.  Likewise, we cannot be the kind of spouse we’re made to be apart from knowing what it means that Jesus is the bride groom of the Church.  We cannot work as we’re made to apart from a mature grasp on God as orderer and sustainer.  We cannot enjoy leisure apart from knowing that God is our Sabbath and satisfaction.  We cannot properly look at the stars without knowing they declare the infinite glory of God.  Even more fundamentally still, we cannot know who we are apart from knowing that God as our maker.  And above all, we cannot glorify and enjoy God forever apart from true and increasing knowledge of Him.  

                    Everything in us and around us has its meaning, place, and purpose in God.  I really want that to make sense to all of you such that the most obvious prayer in the world will be, “God, grant me ever-increasing knowledge of you so that I might live the full life Jesus came to bring” (John 10:10).  And in that same way, I want it to be obvious to you all why Paul’s prayer for God to grant the Colossians increasing knowledge of Him was the necessary foundation for their ability to persevere in faithfulness through trial and temptation.  

                    Eternally Trinitarian (Psalm 90:2; Isaiah 40:28; 1 Timothy 1:17; Matthew 3:16–17; 2 Corinthians 13:14)

                    Let’s begin with the most fundamental aspect of the nature of God, that He is eternally trinitarian.  Because it’s the most fundamental aspect of God’s nature, we’ll spend a bit more time on it than the rest.

                    God is eternal in that He has no beginning and no end.  He (and He alone) has never not been and will never not be.  This is hinted at in the first words of the Bible, “In the beginning God…”.  The same idea is in Colossians 1:17, “[Jesus] is before all things…”  The underlying reality of both is that before anything else was, God eternally is.  

                    The idea is even more explicit in Psalm 90 and in a different letter that Paul wrote (1 Timothy).

                    Psalm 90:2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

                    1 Timothy 1:17 Now to the King eternal… be honor and glory forever and ever.

                    What’s more, God has eternally existed as Trinity—one God in three persons, Father, Son, and Spirit.  

                    I think it’s fair to say that more wrong things have been said of the Trinity than right things.  It is almost certainly, the most mysterious aspect of God’s nature.  

                    At the same time, what can be truly said of the Trinity is fairly straightforward.  Consider this definition.

                    “The doctrine of the Trinity means that there is one God who eternally exists as three distinct Persons — the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Stated differently, God is one in essence and three in person. These definitions express three crucial truths: (1) the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct Persons, (2) each Person is fully God, (3) there is only one God.”  (Matt Perman)

                    There are specific and explicit passages to consider on the divine nature of each person of the godhead, as well as on the oneness of God.  Perhaps you can spend some time looking them up in your DG.  But for our purposes, I want to simply point to a passage in Matthew’s Gospel and then Paul’s echo of that in 2 Corinthians, that speak of all three persons together in a way that only makes sense if God is triune in nature. 

                    Matthew 3:16–17 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” 

                    2 Corinthians 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. 

                    Paul has already explicitly mentioned all three persons of the godhead in the first 14 verses of this letter.  Father – 10x , Son – 6x, and Spirit – 1x.

                    All of Paul’s doctrine is built on the eternal trinitarian nature of God.  And more to the point here, much of Paul’s help for the Colossians—Christ over all and in all—as well.  Christ is over all and in all precisely because of His participation and place in the eternal godhead.  

                    And so it is for you and I, Grace.   Our hope in God’s promises is well-founded because He will never not be around to keep them.  Our salvation is possible only because of the Triune nature of God.  And most practically, we are able to have sweet, continual communion with each Person of the godhead because of the unique and remarkable ministry to us of Father, Son, and Spirit.  You can (and should) spend the rest of your life working that out.  

                    Creator (Genesis 1:1; Colossians 1:16)

                    Picking up the pace, after that (after eternally trinitarian), the next most fundamental aspect of God’s nature for Paul is the fact that God is Creator of all that has been made.  

                    To finish the verse we read earlier, Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth;” light (v.3), sky (v.6), dry land and bodies of water (v.9), plants (v.11), the sun, moon, and stars (v.14), fish and birds (v.20), land animals (v.24), and Adam and Eve, in His very image (v.26).   

                    The point, I think, is plain: God alone created everything outside of Himself.  

                    For Paul, that was critical for two main reasons.  First, because it means that everything belongs to God, is what God says it is, and is accountable to God.  And second, because it points to one more aspect of Christ over all and in all.  

                    In the passage we’ll come to next he says it this way, “For by Him [Jesus] all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through Him and for Him” (1:16).    

                    Why, Colossians, why, Grace Church, would you ever go after any “Jesus ands” when God created you and He did so by, through, and for Jesus?!  Why would you try to find your identity and purpose in anything other than the one who made you?  Why would you look for wisdom, understanding, and satisfaction anywhere besides the One who is those things?  You already belong to Him, so why would you futilely try to run from that?  He is more than enough.  He is over all an in all in a way that nothing else can compare to.  

                    Sovereign (Psalm 115:3; Daniel 4:35; Ephesians 1:11; Colossians 1:17)

                    Third, God is sovereign.  

                    “When we say God is sovereign, we mean he is powerful and authoritative to the extent of being able to override all other powers and authorities… Nothing can successfully stop any act or any event or design or purpose that God intends to certainly bring about.” (John Piper)

                    Psalm 115:3 says it like this, “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.”

                    Daniel 4:35 …none can stay his hand…

                    In his letter to the Ephesian church, Paul explained that God “works all things according to the counsel of His will” (1:11).  And in this letter, in 1:17, Paul declared that in Him “all things hold together.”

                    God is sovereign.  But why does that matter?  Again, for Paul, there are two key reasons.  

                    First, as the late R.C. Sproul said, “If there is one maverick molecule in this universe running free from the sovereign control of God, we have no reason to believe any future promise that God has made, because that one maverick molecule may be the very thing that will destroy those plans. But thanks be to God, there are no maverick molecules running loose outside of the scope of God’s sovereign government.”  In other words, it matters to Paul because God’s ability to accomplish His purposes and keep His promises hinges entirely upon it.  

                    And second, familiarly, it matters because it is why Jesus is over all and in all and why any “Jesus and” is absurd.  Grace, the Colossians need not follow any “and” because Jesus alone has all authority in heaven and earth.  

                    It is critical that God is eternal in order that His ability to keep His promises might never run out.  It is critical that He is creator because that means we are who He says we are and for what He says we are for.  It is critical that He is sovereign because it means that He can hold together all that He made and do all that He promises.  And, as we’re about to see, it is critical that He is wise because that is the basis for believing His plans are worth succeeding.

                    Wise (Romans 16:27; Colossians 1:16-17)

                    God is wise.  I love this brief explanation and grounding of the wisdom of God.

                    When we say that God is wise, “We mean…that all knowledge, all understanding of the essence and interrelation of all His creatures and all their actions, resides in Him. More than that, we mean that God is the wisdom He possesses. He is ‘the only wise God’ (Rom. 16:27)…In this sense, God doesn’t “have wisdom,” He is wisdom.  (David Strain)

                    My best attempt to get to the heart of God’s wisdom is this: God is wise in that He has perfect knowledge of how things are and how they relate to one another.  

                    For the Colossians to endure the trials and temptations that were bombarding them, they needed wisdom.  And Paul knew that since God is wisdom, the wisdom they needed would be found in God and received from God alone.  Jesus Christ is that wisdom, since all things are from Him and for Him and to Him, and in Him all things hold together (Colossians 1:16-17).  All “ands” are, therefore, imitators or liars.  

                    O, Grace, that we might learn this lesson too.   If we were able to take away all folly and semi-sanctified common sense from this room, what would be left?  Who among us is living consistently with the fact that all wisdom—wisdom for science and art and government and marriage and parenting and immigration and law enforcement and gender and medicine and churches and salvation—begins with the fear of the Lord (Proverbs 9:10)?  O that we might look to God alone for all wisdom and understanding and avoid the countless pitfalls and endless pain that comes from looking anywhere else.  That’s what Paul prayed for the church in Colossae and that’s what I pray for the church in Wyoming.    

                    Good (Nahum 1:7; Psalm 34:8; Psalm 31:19; Mark 10:18)

                    Next, God is good.  One definition of God’s goodness states: “The goodness of God means that God is the final standard of good, and that all that God is and does is worthy of approval” (Grudem, Systematic Theology, 197).  

                    That’s a fairly technical way of saying that in God and His world there are things that are rightly to be desired (morally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, etc.) and all of them are rooted in God.  Everything God is, does, gives and commands is intrinsically right.  

                    Nahum 1:7 The Lord is good…

                    Psalm 34:8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! 

                    Psalm 31:19 Oh, how abundant is your goodness

                    Mark 10:18 And Jesus said…”No one is good except God alone.”

                    Of all the attributes we will cover, God’s goodness is probably the most assumed and embedded in Colossians.  It’s everywhere in this letter (and all of Paul’s letters).  To read anything Paul wrote through the lens of the goodness of God is to see it in every crack and crevice.  For him, there is simply no doubt about the fact that everything that is in and of God is worthy of praise.  For him, it makes as much sense to question the goodness of God and His plans as it does to question the hotness of fire or the coldness of ice.  God is good in the same way that fire is hot and ice is cold.  It’s an intrinsic aspect of His nature.  

                    Therefore, Paul was unhesitant to prescribe to the Colossians the good will of God in the midst of their challenges.  He knew that it would make certain aspects of their lives harder, but in this life gooder is often harder.

                    And so it must be with all of us, Grace.  Although God’s charges to us often go against the wisdom of the world and always against the desires of our flesh, they are always, always, always thoroughly good and infinitely better than every alternative.  We can trust God and His commands because He is perfectly pure in His goodness; because He is good.  

                    In His wisdom He always knows what’s best for us and in His goodness, He always desires it for us.  

                    Holy (1 Samuel 2:2; Psalm 96:9; Isaiah 6:2-3; Colossians 1:21-22)

                    The sixth aspect of God’s nature that is hardwired into Paul’s mind and heart, and woven through this entire letter, and central to Jesus being over all, is probably the most emphasized in the Bible: His holiness.  God is holy.  And there’s no one I’d rather hear talk about that than R.C. Sproul.  

                    … when we want to call attention to something that’s particularly important [we] give it emphasis…

                    Well, the Jews… [often used] a simple technique, a verbal repetition. … the Apostle Paul when he’s writing to the Galatians and warning them of the dangers of departing from the gospel … He said, “I say unto you that if anybody preaches unto you any other gospel than that which you’ve received, even if it’s an angel from heaven, let him be anathema…Let him be damned.” …But he doesn’t stop there. He immediately goes on to say, “Again, I say to you, if anyone preaches unto you any other gospel than that which you have received, let him be anathema.”

                    In other words, Paul emphasized the danger of preaching a false gospel by wishing damnation on any person who does, twice in a row.  There are many other examples of that in the Bible (of double emphasis).  

                    Sproul continues, “Ladies and gentlemen, there’s only one attribute of God that is ever raised to the third degree of repetition in Scripture. … the Bible doesn’t simply say that God is holy or even that He’s holy, holy but that He is holy, holy, holy. … This is a dimension of God that consumes His very essence…God alone is holy.

                    1 Samuel 2:2 There is none holy like the LORD

                    Psalm 96:9  Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth!

                    Isaiah 6:2-3 Above him stood the seraphim… 3 And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”

                    “The holiness of God refers to the absolute moral purity of God and the absolute moral distance between God and his human creatures.” (Richard Lints)

                    In other words, God’s holiness is His set-apartness, His uniquely infinite value, His moral purity, His absolute perfection…and all of those things, threefold; holy, holy, holy.

                    We see this in two main ways in Paul’s writing.  First, we it in the fact that the ruin of mankind—our enmity with God—results from the fact that we are measured, not against one another, but against the holiness of God, of which we all fall infinitely short (Romans 3:23).  

                    And the second way we see it is in Paul’s charge to the Colossians to be holy; to put off the old man and on the new man in Christ (3:1-17).  

                    Both of those senses are embedded in Colossians 1:21-22, “And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.”

                    Again, the holiness of God is significant for the Colossian believers because “Jesus and” living is always contrary to God’s own holiness and the holiness He calls His people to, and therefore must be rejected entirely.  

                    Acting according to the “philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ” (2:8), as the Colossians were being tempted to do, was diametrically opposed to God’s holy nature and the nature He was working in them.  

                    For us, Grace, the holiness of God means that none of us can stand before God on our own, uncondemned.  I vividly remember believing as a kid that I’d certainly go to heaven when I died because I measured up well against Hitler.  But I will not be compared to Hitler and neither will you.  We will be compared to the holy God.  We must tremble at that so that we might look to Christ for the mercy and grace He alone can give.  He is over all and in all because He alone is holy, holy, holy.

                    Just (Deuteronomy 32:4; Isaiah 30:18; Psalm 89:14; Colossians 3:25)

                    We’re almost done. The second to last characteristic of God that we’re going to consider is His justice.  God is just.  “Justice involves seeking lawful equality without favoritism to particular persons” (Trier, EDOT, 454).  In other words, God’s justice means that He gives to everyone all and only what they deserve.

                    Deuteronomy 32:4 all his ways are justice…just and upright is he.

                    Isaiah 30:18 the Lord is a God of justice

                    Psalm 89:14Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne

                    In Colossians 3:25 Paul wrote, “For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.”  That means everyone will face judgment, but it also means that our judgment will be regardless of age, race, wealth, tribe, tongue, gender, or religion.  God’s judgment will be measured, as we saw, against one thing and one thing only: His perfect holiness.

                    God cannot be bribed, He does not consider the appearance of a person in His judgments, He is never confused or limited in His understanding, He is just.  

                    For the Colossians, this meant that everyone who persecuted them for their faith in Jesus or attempted to lead them astray from it would come under God’s perfect, just judgment.  There is a real sense of relief in that.  But it also meant that the things Paul was commending to them were of no small consequence.  Adopting any “Christ and” philosophy or tradition would come under the same perfect judgment of God.   

                    For us, perhaps the most significant aspect of God’s justice is in the humility, sobriety, and gratitude it brings when we learn its implications.  What I mean is, we often hear people (even among us) claiming that their circumstances aren’t fair (their sickness or abuse or mistreatment at the hand of a sibling).  And there is, of course, usually a sense in which that is true on a horizontal level.  

                    But on a more significant level, a vertical level, God’s justice, rightly understood means that every minute of every day that we have breath, no matter our circumstances on earth, is infinitely better than we deserve.  As we consider the final attribute of God that Paul built his life, doctrine, and ministry upon, I think that will become even clearer.

                    Gracious (Psalm 145:8; Joel 2:13; Nehemiah 9:31; Colossians 1:6)

                    Finally, then, and in conclusion, if we combine the first seven attributes of God, we have a God who is awesome indeed.  We have a God of unparalleled glory and majesty.  We have a God who is above all other gods and in all things.  But we also have no hope.

                    If God were only eternally Trinitarian, creator, sovereign, wise, good, holy, and just, He would be worthy of praise, but we’d be ruined.  The attributes we’ve considered make it clear that God is God, but also that we have sinned and fallen short of His glory, deserve His wrath, and that any chance we have of being reconciled to God cannot come from our worthiness or our ability to perform or our power to redeem ourselves.  

                    Any hope we have, therefore, is in God being more than just those things.  Indeed, He is!  God is eternally Trinitarian, creator, sovereign, wise, good, holy, just, and gracious!  

                    Psalm 145:8 The Lord is gracious and merciful…

                    Joel 2:13 Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious

                    Nehemiah 9:31 You are a gracious and merciful God.

                    In Colossians 1:6 we read of Paul’s thankfulness to God for filling understanding of His grace in truth.  

                    Paul knew that the Colossians only hope of receiving knowledge of God, believing knowledge of God, and living in light of the knowledge of God was the grace of God.  Similarly, he knew the only hope of the Colossian Christians to reject “Jesus and” heresy was the grace of God.  And their only hope of understanding, loving, and trusting in the fact that Jesus is over all and in all was the grace of God.

                    Colossians 1:21-22 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.

                    Colossians 2:13-15 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

                    Indeed, Grace Church, may we be ever-increasing in the knowledge of God, that we might live lives worthy of God, through faith in the Son of God, in whom (2:3) “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

                    These are not merely interesting ideas to consider or true things to ponder.  They are fuel for worship and obedience.  This is our God and He is infinitely worthy of our praise and allegiance.  Treat this knowledge less like facts to memorize and more like the treasures of limitless worth they are.  As we learn to delight in God through this increasing knowledge, no pocket of our lives will remain unaffected.  And all of that because Jesus Christ is over all and in all.

                    47 min
                  5. How to Walk in a Manner Worthy of the Lord

                    Colossians 1:9-12 –

                    9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

                    Introduction

                    What is the goal of Bible study?  Or, when you study the Bible, what are you after?  Maybe even more to the point, what biblical passages inform your understanding of the goal of knowing God’s Word?   

                    The first time I was explicitly confronted with those kinds of questions was about ten years ago.  I was going to be teaching hermeneutics (a fancy word for Bible study methods) on a TLI trip.  Within the first few pages of the curriculum, I came across the heading: “The Goal of the Bible: ___”.  As soon as I saw it, I knew that I’d never consciously filled in the blank, but I should have.  The fact that I hadn’t was both surprising and a bit disorienting.

                    I began running possible answers through my mind, but I never got passed high level answers like “Glorifying God” or “Learning what God has told us” or “Finding God’s will or God’s plan”.  

                    As caught off guard as I was with the initial question, I was even more caught off guard by the curriculum’s answer.  As I mentioned, I wasn’t sure what the answer should be, but I was sure the answer I found in the teacher’s manual wasn’t on my radar.  The answer it gave was: Practical wisdom (knowing how to live).  

                    For reasons I still don’t fully grasp, that answer just didn’t sit right with me for a long time.  I think, maybe, it just seemed too simple, too ordinary, too practical, too under the sun.  I’d drunk a lot of big God theology Kool-Aid by that point and it felt like anything other than “to glorify God and enjoy Him forever” or “to delight in the sovereignty of God over all things” was too man-centered, too down to earth.  

                    Of course, it is true that all things ultimately exist for the glory of God (including the Bible and its study), and I knew, of course, that God calls us to live in certain ways, but I’d never quite fit those two puzzle pieces together before then.  The Spirit was kind to do so that day.  Glorifying God must begin with right doctrine, but it must always end with right practice.  I learned then that God theology is the most practical theology of all.  

                    Our passage for this morning shines a bright light on that.  In it, Paul helps us to see in simple, explicit, biblical terms that the goal of Bible study is to enable God’s people “to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord” (aka, practical wisdom).  

                    As we consider our passage for this morning, I want to help you see the big idea in it: Living lives that are worthy of the Lord and fully pleasing to Him requires right thinking, right living, and the grace of God.  The main takeaway, then, is to give ourselves to prayerfully studying all of God’s Word and prayerfully applying it to all of our lives.    

                    Walking in a Manner Worthy of the Lord

                    The heart of this passage is, once again, Paul’s prayer that the Colossian Christians would live lives worthy of the Lord.  We find that within his recounting to them, his prayers for them; and with that, we find amazing help in understanding what it means to live a life that is fully pleasing to God and how to go about it.

                    We Cannot Walk Worthily Apart from the Grace of God – Paul’s Prayer of Supplication (9)

                    To back up just a bit, in v.3, Paul mentions that every time he prays for the Colossians, it includes a time of giving thanks to God for the blessings He’d already given them (namely, their faith in Jesus).  In our passage, Paul continued to describe his prayers for the Colossians, mentioning that he also asked God for things they still needed.  There are two things I want you to see in that regard.

                    First, Paul is a model of the kind of consistency these kinds of prayers of supplication ought to have.  He recognized a significant need in the church at Colossae and committed himself to taking that need before God until God answered his prayer.  

                    We see this right away in v.9, “And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you…”.  We’ll come to the content of the prayers Paul never ceased to pray in a few minutes, but the first point here is that there were prayers he never stopped praying.  

                    To be clear, Paul was not saying (as it kind of sounds like) that he had been praying without stopping (every minute of every day) for months.  Instead, simply, he’s saying that he’s taken certain needs of the Colossians to God consistently since he first became aware of the needs.  

                    Think back to our member meeting last Sunday.  As elders, we asked you all to prayerfully consider four options for addressing the space issues we have here on Sundays.  Our hope is that you would have begun praying that day and that you’d continue praying until the Lord brings some resolution to our situation.  We’re asking, in Paul’s 1:9 language, that you’d not cease praying for this until God moves in it.  

                    Praying like that requires love, intentionality, discipline, and trust.  It requires love in that you won’t pray for it once, much less all the way through to resolution, if you don’t treasure Christ and long for that which is best for our church.  It requires intentionality in that it won’t just happen if you don’t write it down and make a plan to keep it in front of you.  It requires discipline in that, as we all know, it’s far easier to begin a good thing than it is to finish it.  And it requires trust, because who would keep praying if they didn’t believe God beckons, hears, cares, and will be faithful to His promise to work for our good?  

                    Paul prayed like this and I commend this kind of prayer-life to you all as well.  Get a prayer journal.  Have certain times of day (or days of the week) that you set aside to praying for the things you write down.  And don’t stop praying until God’s answer is clear.  

                    We can’t pray like this for every single request we take before God.  But a right understanding of prayer, the world we live in, and the God who hears our prayers, means that we must do so sometimes—that there are some needs that are worth pleading with God for, as did the persistent widow in Luke 18.  

                    The second thing I want you to see here is that Paul prayed like this because he knew that the things the Colossian Christians needed most were not possible apart from God’s grace. 

                    Therefore, he prayed for God’s illuminating grace.  The Colossians needed God to open their eyes if they were to see what is true of God and His will; and so Paul asked God for this grace for the Colossians.  

                    Paul also prayed for God’s sanctifying grace.  The very heart of Paul’s prayers were for God to grant the Colossians new minds and new affections.  They not only needed to see what was true, but they needed to learn to love it above all.  And, therefore, Paul prayed for God’s sanctifying grace.  

                    And Paul prayed for God to grant strengthening grace to the Colossians.   He knew that the Colossians’ only hope of living as God intended them to through this trial was through God’s power.  And so he asked God to grant it.

                    Everything the Colossians needed comes only by God’s grace.  Paul knew that faith-driven prayer is the most significant means of God’s grace for Christians…and so he never ceased praying for the Colossians.

                    Grace, as a pastoral aside, I would commend three things to you regarding your prayer life.  I’m simply going to name them, but I’d encourage you all to press into them in your DG this week.  First, your prayer life is probably the best indicator of your spiritual health and maturity.  Second, it is usually best to pray the Bible.  And third, a robust prayer life consists of a balance between prayers of adoration (God, I praise you for being / that you are ___ ), prayers of confession (God, Your Word calls me to ___, but I have failed to honor that.  I am sorry for my sin.  Help me remember the gospel and walk in light of it), prayers of thanksgiving (God, thank you for being kind to me in that ___ ), and prayers of supplication (God, please fulfill this need in my life).  

                    So far, the body of this letter has been a masterclass on that kind of prayer life.  That is, in vs.3-12, we’re seeing a lengthening description of Paul’s exemplary prayer life on behalf of the Colossian Christians.  

                    What, then, did Paul specifically ask God for on the Colossians behalf?

                    We Cannot Walk Worthily Apart from Knowledge of God’s Will (9, 10)

                    The beginning of Paul’s without-ceasing prayer was that God would fill the Colossians with the knowledge of Him and His will.  We see that at the end of v.9.

                    9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding…

                    He echoes that prayer at the end of v.10, again letting the Colossians know that he continually asked God to cause them to be continually “increasing in the knowledge of God…”.  

                    Knowledge of God, knowledge of God’s will, spiritual wisdom, and spiritual understanding.  Those are the things Paul first prayed for the Colossians.  Paul’s prayer was, at its heart, a plea for God to fill them with an accurate understanding of, the truth concerning, who God is and what He wanted from them.  

                    Grace, again, I want you to consider two specific things regarding this prayer.  

                    First, I hope it’s obvious, but God is who He is, He demands what He demands, and everyone on earth will be held accountable to whether or not we conform to those things—whether we know them or like them or not.  It should be clear, then, that our current culture’s belief (and our own belief at times) that God and His will are ours to define and then take and leave as we see fit, is a lie from hell that only leads to hell.      

                    Paul’s prayer was a recognition that sin keeps us blinded to and repulsed by the things of God and the will of God unless God, by His (illuminating) grace, opens our eyes, minds, and hearts to them. 

                    The second thing I want you to consider is how God reveals Himself and His will.  Paul was asking God to fill them with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, but how does God do so?

                    For the Colossians, God did so primarily through the OT, Paul’s writings, and the Holy Spirit.  Today, in much the same, but in an even fuller way, God has given us all He requires us to know of Him and His will in the Bible.   And we have the same indwelling Spirit to grant us wisdom and understanding as we hear and read and study it.  

                    And so, Grace, the monumental questions this idea forces upon us are these: Do you long to know God and His will for you, for your family, for our church?  Do you want to know who He is in truth no matter what it means for your life?  Do you want to know what it means to live as He intends in every aspect of your life even if it causes changes and disruptions to your plans?  And are you willing to do what it takes to find those things?

                    If so, if your answer is yes, then pray the same prayer for yourself as Paul prayed for the Colossians, “My Father in heaven, may I be filled with the knowledge of Your will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding?”  Pray it in the same way: Without ceasing.  And then give yourself to the Word of God, where God has revealed everything we need concerning His nature and will.  

                    Practically, prepare well for sitting under the preached Word.  Read the text in advance.  Pray for our preaching and for understanding and conviction for yourself, your family, and our whole church.  Ask the Spirit to open your eyes to these things, convict you of where you fall short, and to fill you with an eagerness to have your mind renewed.  And go to DG each week to be reminded of, discuss, and work together to apply the sermon.  

                    Practically, come to Berea.  Do your best to read the book of the Bible that we’re covering before you come.  Prepare you’re yourself and your family with things to look out for and questions to consider.  Go over your Sunday school kids’ homework assignments with them and prepare them to engage the biblical stories.  

                    And practically, have daily quiet time.  Slow down to meditate on Scripture and study it to the best of your ability.  You don’t have to read fast, but you do need to read systematically, taking in the whole counsel of God over time.  Consider picking up one of the reading plans in the back if you don’t have one and just start reading through one of the columns.  Use this time to hide the Word in your mind and heart (memorize it).  Pray slowly over whatever passage you’re reading for that day.  Come up with at least one question to ask someone else, one glory to share with someone else, and one command to obey with someone every time you get into the text.

                    I’m so thankful that so many of you are already doing these things in faith.  Thank God!

                    The fundamental principles here are that (1) Every aspect of the Christian life begins with true, spiritual knowledge and understanding of God and His will, (2) We gain that, by God’s design, through the reading of His Word and the ministry of His Spirit and Church, and (3) It is God’s grace alone that illuminates and draws us to it all.

                    Paul knew those things and longed for them for the Colossians, and so He didn’t stop asking God for them on their behalf.   

                    Let me say one more thing before we move on to the meat of the text.  Did you notice that Paul didn’t just pray for some measure of knowledge of the things of God?  He prayed that the Colossians would “be filled with the knowledge of His will” and “in all spiritual wisdom and understanding” and that they would be ever “increasing in the knowledge of God.”

                    This is chief among our aims for the rest of our lives on earth and among our chief occupations in heaven: To have our minds truly and entirely renewed and perpetually filled by God.  To fully, truly, entirely know who God really is, what He really wants, what it really means, and how to really go about it for His glory and our good.

                    The Essence of a Worthy Life (10-12)

                    As remarkable as all that is, as necessary as all that is, that’s not the end.  We need to be filled with the knowledge of God and His will, but as a means to an even greater end.  

                    In other words, we must always be cautious of thinking that understanding the things of God is enough.  I need to be careful about how I say this, but there are some who have made an idol out of the Bible and Bible study.  They love reading it as fascinating literature.  They love the poetry, the history, and the riveting stories.  It fills them with spiritual feelings.  They understand it in a way that makes them feel special.  It is their ticket into a certain kind of friendship or club or esteem.  They’re fascinated with the things of God, but it stops there.  They think many right thoughts about God and believe that to be sufficient.  

                    O, but the demons have many of those things, and stop there.  Jesus spent a good deal of His ministry on earth condemning those with exceptional levels of knowledge of God and His Word, but stopped there.  Grace, everyone who stops there, who stops with knowledge of God alone, does not truly know God.    

                    That’s why Paul’s prayer didn’t stop there.  He continued on, asking God that the church in Colossae “may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding” and here’s the key (v.10), “so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord”. 

                    What’s the goal of Bible study?  What’s the goal of gaining knowledge of God and His will?  What’s the goal of our preaching, teaching, and personal devotions?  It is to enable us to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord; to live the life God designed us to live; to act in ways that are consistent with who God is and who we are; to allow us to do all that God requires of us.  

                    In other words, Paul didn’t merely want the Colossian Christians to know who God is and what He wanted.  He wanted them to fully know who God is and what He wanted so that they would live fully in light of it.  Knowledge of God’s will is critical, we cannot honor Him or live as He intends without it, and the more we have, the more we can honor Him and live as He intends, but we need those things, SO AS to walk in manner worthy of the Lord.  

                    Paul then names six elements of walking in a manner worthy of the Lord: (1) It is fully pleasing to God, (2) It bears fruit in every good work, (3) It is continually growing in knowledge of God, (4) It is empowered by God, (5) It is enduring, patient, and joyful, and (6) It is marked by thankfulness to God for granting such grace.  

                    Let’s take a brief look at each of those as a means of growing in them ourselves.  

                    1. It is fully pleasing to God (10)

                      I invite you, indeed I urge you, to slow down for a moment here.  Paul’s prayer was that the Colossian believers would know God and His will, so that they might live lives worthy of God.  And the first aspect of a worthy life is that it is “fully pleasing to [God]”.  

                      You don’t need to know a lot about the Bible or the Christian gospel to recognize the astounding statement that is.  Live lives worthy of God?  Fully pleasing to Him in every way?  Most of the time I can’t even imagine living for a single day in a way that is worthy of and fully pleasing to my wife or kids or you all, much less living my entire life in a manner that is worthy of and fully pleasing to God.  

                      But Paul asks God to grant exactly that to the Colossians.  As the letter unfolds, we’ll see this reality with ever-growing clarity, but the point is that Paul could pray this prayer and God could answer it, because, and only because, the Colossian Christians were in Christ.  They were already fully pleasing to God because they were already fully united to Jesus, who is the righteousness and pleasure of God.  And so it is for us.  

                      At the same time, as Paul will also make increasingly clear throughout this letter, it brings God a different kind of pleasure when we, filled with the knowledge of God and His will, think right thoughts, feel right feelings, and do right things in faith (which leads the next point).  
                    2. It bears fruit in every good work (10)

                      A second aspect of a life that is worthy of God—that is ordered in a manner consistent with who God is, and that is part of living in a way that is fully pleasing to Him—is one that bears fruit in every good work (v.10).

                      Bearing good fruit, as we saw last week in v.6, is something the grace of God alone does in us.  There is a very real way in which we cannot bear good fruit.  In that way, we give ourselves to faithfulness and God causes fruit to be produced through that.  And in that way, Paul’s point is that our role is to do good works, trusting that God will bear the right fruit, in the right amounts, among the right people, at the right time, through them.  

                      So do good works, Grace, not bad works.  Care for the poor.  Clean up the kitchen for your parents if you see it needs it. Struggle with all God’s energy (1:29) to walk alongside a single mom.  Pray for someone and let them know you did.  Sit with and listen to someone who is going through a hard time.  Remind them of the gospel. Forgive someone who has sinned against you.  Apologize to someone you’ve sinned against.  Visit an elderly person who is shut in.  Read the Bible to them, sing with them, and pray for them.  Advocate for justice for someone who needs a voice.  Do good works and ask God to bear gospel fruit through it.  

                      In order to live in a manner worthy of God, we need to know God and His will, from His Word, to know what good works are.  We need to choose to give ourselves (with the Spirit’s help) to do them.  And we need God’s Spirit to cause our good works to bear good fruit when we do.  All of that is what Paul longed and prayed for.

                    3. It is continually growing in knowledge of God (10)

                      I love that Paul begins with knowledge of God and then circles back to it.  This is how God’s sanctifying grace works in us.  By His grace, through His Word, Spirit, and Church, we come to know certain true, glorious, awesome aspects of who He is.  That causes us to know what it means to live for Him and to want to do so in a manner fully pleasing to Him.  From there, His Spirit causes us to begin to bear fruit, to see His hand working miracles through us—sinners saved as we share the gospel, the poor made glad as we serve in Jesus’ name, the lonely befriended as we love as we’ve been loved, our own lives changed in ever-increasing ways into the likeness of Jesus.  And (here’s the key) through all of that, through seeing God’s faithfulness and power at work, we’re driven back to God’s Word for more spiritual wisdom and understanding and God causes us to increase allthemore “10 … in the knowledge of God…”.  And further up and further in we go.  

                      We’re about to see that this upward thrust is empowered and persevered by God as well.  

                      But it’s important to recognize that, as with so many aspects of life under the sun, the opposite is true as well.  All the upward pressure God designed us to experience as sanctifying power, can also push us down if we neglect God’s design.  If we believe wrong things about God, we will live lives that are unworthy of God, we will live lives that displease Him, we will bear bad fruit, and all of that will make us believe more and greater lies about God.  And further down and further out we’ll go.  This is true in our marriages, in our parenting, our friendships, in our ministries, at our jobs…and every other aspect of our lives that are rooted in lies about God.  

                      There is always pressure on our lives, either toward God’s pleasure when we live in faithful obedience, according to true knowledge of His will, or away from it when we don’t, living in lies.  
                    4. It is empowered by God (11)

                      All of this is a lot.  It’s overwhelming for anyone first considering it and even more so for everyone who has truly sought to live in light of these things.  Indeed, the strongest man alive couldn’t possibly do what Paul was praying for and commending to the Colossians.  Who, but God alone is sufficient for such a life?  

                      The answer, of course, is God alone.  But thanks be to God, Paul knew God’s power in him and so he prayed for that same power to fill the Colossian Christians.  He prayed that they would be thoroughly transformed in their living by the total renewing of their minds “according to the glorious might” of God.  He knew that it was only in God’s power that they could even begin to live as God intended and so he prayed that they would be “strengthened with all [God’s] power.”

                      Grace, may we repent of every ounce of practical atheism!  May we seek the Lord’s forgiveness for pridefully attempting to do His will in our own strength.  May we grieve every time our first thought is to scheme better or try harder or plan further, instead of pray humbler and trust faithfuller.  

                      It is a truly miserable place to be, to know God’s will and to attempt to live in light of it in our own strength.  Paul knew that, that’s what he did for the first half of his life, and so he prayed that the Colossians would live out their faith in God’s power, not their own.  
                    5. It is enduring, patient, and joyful (11)

                      Under the best circumstances, this would be a steep climb.  But as you know, the Colossians were a long way from the best circumstances.  The main point of the letter was to warn the small, out-of-the-way, in-the-minority, persecuted Colossian church, of a serious and deadly heresy and call them to stand up against it in the knowledge and power of God.

                      In light of what we know of the Colossian believers, there’s little doubt that they would heed Paul’s admonition in this regard.  They would most certainly fix their eyes on Jesus and step out of the boat onto the water in the storm.  But even those who are faithful enough to rely on God’s strength to do God’s will, are often soon tempted to look at the storm instead of the Lord of it.  

                      More than knowledge of God, more than knowledge and fruitfulness, more even than God’s knowledge and fruitfulness in His power, Paul prayed for all those things and the kind of patience and endurance they’d need to persist in them over time and through opposition (v.11).   

                      What’s more, perhaps most powerfully of all, he also prayed that they’d be able to do all of this “with joy” (v.11).  It’s one thing to be able to stoically endure that which is good, but hard and discouraging.  It’s another thing altogether to be able to do so “with joy” and for the joy set before you.  

                      The example I’ve given several times, I’m sure, happened again this past Tuesday.  Michigan State played Rutgers in basketball.  It was supposed to be an easy win, but MSU ended up having to fight and claw to get Rutgers’ lead down to 9 at halftime.  That’s where I had to turn the game off (because DG was starting).  An hour and a half later, I checked the score and saw that MSU ended up winning in overtime.  When I got home and watched the game, it was a very different experience than had I watched it live.  I knew the outcome and so, while it was still painful to watch all the turnovers and missed shots from MSU and the crazy, out-of-character, beyond-the-NBA-three-point-line shots Rutgers was hitting all over the place, there was a transcending joy that overrode the pain.

                      It is a silly example, of course, but one that I think is helpful to make sense of what Paul was praying.  He wasn’t asking God to make painful things unpainful.  We’re not meant to pretend that hurtful things don’t hurt or that hard things aren’t hard.  He was praying, though, that God would cause the Colossians to believe His promises concerning a greater glory and good that He was working through their trials, and therein give them a kind of joy that transcended all of it, filling them with all the patience and endurance they’d need.  
                    6. It is marked by thankfulness to God for granting such grace in Jesus (12) 

                      Finally, in the way of providing a bridge between this Sunday’s sermon and next, I want to quickly and simply point out the final aspect of a life worthy of the Lord that Paul prayed.  It was that all their right thinking and all the right actions that flowed from it would be wrapped entirely in thanksgiving to God.  Paul started the body of this letter by acknowledging that he gave continual thanks to the Father for His work in the Colossians.  Here Paul lets them know that he was praying that they too would know the kindness of God, “who had qualified them to share in the inheritance of the saints in light,” such that their lives would be ones of unwavering thankfulness; that they, like him, would always be “giving thanks to the Father.”

                      7. Once again, let me say one more thing before I close.  Just as Paul didn’t pray for some measure of knowledge of God and His will (but for the fullness thereof), neither did he pray for some measure of transformation within them.  He prayed that they would be “fully pleasing” to God, that they would bear “fruit in every good work,” and that they would be “strengthened with all power” “for all endurance.”  

                      Conclusion

                      Living lives that are worthy of the Lord and fully pleasing to Him requires right thinking, right living, and the grace of God.  The main takeaway, then, is to give ourselves to prayerfully studying all of God’s Word and prayerfully applying it to all of our lives.  

                      As we turn now to the Lord’s Table, let it remind us afresh that Christ alone is our hope in life and death.  It is His work that our faith is in, even as we work out our faith in all of life for His glory.  

                      47 min
                    7. The Density of the Gospel in Colossians

                      Colossians 1:3-8 –

                      3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 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, 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf 8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

                      Introduction

                      For a second week, we are going to consider Colossians 1:3-8.  Last week, I focused on answering the question: How can Paul’s tone be what it is here—thankful and joyful—when the point of the letter is to address a really significant and dangerous heresy?  The answer, we saw, is that there’s a unique kind of joy (a circumstance-transcending-kind-of-joy) that comes from living a life of faithfulness, among a faithful people, and, most importantly, with supreme confidence in the unfailing faithfulness of God.  

                      This morning we’re going to focus on a different question that the text also addresses: What is the gospel and what role does it play in Colossians?  In v.5, Paul mentions that the gospel had come to the Colossians and was bearing fruit in them and throughout the whole world.  But what is the gospel, what kind of fruit does it produce, who does it produce such fruit in, how does it do so, etc.?  These six verses don’t tell us everything there is to know about the gospel, or even answer all of those questions, but what they do tell us is good news indeed.  

                      Before I share the big idea and implication of this sermon, and before I pray, let me say a brief word about why I’m preaching this sermon from these verses.  Why not consider what the entire letter says about the gospel?  Paul certainly didn’t intend to say everything about the gospel in this passage, so what’s the value of getting an incomplete picture?  Those are reasonable questions.  My answer is simple.  This passage is so densely packed with gospel that I want to show you how Paul has woven it into every line of this letter right from the beginning, so you’ll be better prepared to recognize it in the rest of the fabric of the rest of this letter.  

                      With that, the big idea of this sermon is that the gospel is good news for every aspect of our lives forever.  Christ is indeed above all and in all.  And that is densely packed into these few verses, even as it is densely packed in all of Colossians.  The main takeaway, then, is to learn to live more fully in light of the reality of the gospel.  

                      Gospel Density

                      If an outside observer were to follow you around undetected for a full week, 24/7, what would they likely conclude is the most driving force in your life?  

                      Would it be your job/the need to make money?  The desire to avoid anxiety or fear?  The pursuit of pleasure/entertainment?  The love of your family?  School/good grades?  A relationship?  Sports/hobby?  The opinions of others?  The need to succeed?  Taking care of someone?

                      What motivates you?  What primarily shapes your decisions?  What is your main frame of reference in life?

                      Whatever your answer was coming into this morning, my earnest prayer is that the Lord would use this sermon to increasingly bend it toward the gospel; such that from now on, when asked what most drives your life, motivates you, shapes your decisions, and is the lens through which you see yourself and the world around you, your answer will truly be: the gospel, the good news of Jesus!   

                      That is the answer that permeates this letter and Paul’s life.  It is the only answer that will allow the Colossians to respond the heresy confronting them in a manner that is pleasing to God and good for their souls.  And it is the only answer that will allow any of us to live the lives we were designed to live and for which Christ died.  

                      To be extra clear, if your first thought when presented with something new or familiar, hard or easy, suffering or sweet, good or bad, entertaining or boring, religious or secular, work or leisure, alone or in a group, with anything and everything, is anything other than how it relates to all that Jesus is and accomplished for those who believe in Him, then you will never experience that thing as you were meant to.

                      As we saw last week, Colossians 1:3-8 is largely about Paul’s faithful thanksgiving to God for God’s faithfulness to the Colossians and the Colossians’ faithfulness to God in the midst of trying circumstances.  

                      What I want to point out here is that the gospel was in and around and over and under and through all of that.  Again, we’ll see it all throughout this letter, but the fact that it’s so densely packed in these few verses ought to wake us up to its power and glory and necessity and all-encompassingness.  

                      Consider with me, then, nine expressions of the gospel, embedded into this opening paragraph and how your life wild be different if they shaped your perspective and aims and heart and mind.  

                      Jesus and the Gospel Are Inseparable (vs. 3, 4, 7)

                      First, Jesus and the gospel are inseparable.  No Jesus, no gospel.  He is all and in all.

                      I hope many of the points I share this morning are at least somewhat familiar, but this one most of all.  There is no gospel, there is no good news, apart from Jesus.  There is nothing that Paul believed more firmly than that.  That is why he thanked God, “The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  It is why he commended the Colossians for their “faith in Christ Jesus.”  And it is why he praised Epaphras for being “a faithful minister of Christ.”

                      As we’ll see at the very end of this sermon, and many times throughout our time in Colossians, there is no gospel apart from Jesus, because Jesus is the gospel.  He is the means by which there is good news for sinners and He is the good news for sinners.  

                      Jesus and the gospel are inseparable.  

                      The Good News of the Gospel Is Ours through Faith in Jesus Christ (v.4)

                      Second, the good news of the gospel is ours through faith in Jesus Christ.  We get a glimpse of that in the beginning of v.4.

                      3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus…

                      One of the most significant aspects of the gospel is that it is ours through faith. Within that, there are two terms we need to consider more carefully: “through” and “faith”.  

                      In our culture, the term “faith” is often used to mean “wishful thinking;” something we’d really like to happen, but know to be really unlikely.  

                      “I have ‘faith’ that my team is going to pull it out (despite being down by 20 with less than a minute to go),” we often hear.  

                      Or, people say, “I have ‘faith’” that someone will pull through a significant illness when there’s no good reason to believe they will, and every good reason to believe they won’t.  

                      Because of that modern sense of the term, people often think that faith in Jesus is equivalent to believing fairytales or that they’ll win the lottery—not an absolute 0% chance of being true, but not far from it.  

                      The kind of faith Paul references here, though, is very different.  Rather than hope for something that is almost certainly false, biblical faith is complete trust/full assurance of something that is absolutely true, but also invisible.  

                      The author of Hebrews says it like this, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

                      Paul’s words in v.6 come close to that.  There, he talks of receiving the gospel in faith as hearing and understanding “the grace of God in truth”.  To have faith in the gospel, we must hear the content of the gospel, we must understand it, and we must trust in it as truly true (more on that later).  

                      Culturally speaking, faith requires hope and a slim chance of truth.  If either ingredient is lacking, there is no faith.    

                      Biblically speaking, faith requires both trust and truth.  If either ingredient is lacking, there is no faith.    

                      The second word I want to focus on is “through.”  The good news of the gospel is ours through faith in Jesus.  

                      Do you know what a conduit is?  There are a number of conduits all around us right here in this room.  A conduit is a means by which something travels.  An electrical wire is a conduit through which electricity travels.  PVC pipe is a conduit through which water travels.  Fiber optic cables are a conduit through which data travels.  And faith is the conduit (and the only conduit) through which the good news of the gospel travels. 

                      When we combine what we just saw of these two terms (“faith” and “through”) with the previous point (Jesus is the gospel), we take an important step toward a fuller grasp on Paul’s understanding of the gospel.  Jesus is the good news.  Faith is the conduit through which the good news of Jesus flows from Him to us.  

                      Again, I am not claiming that in these verses Paul thoroughly unpacked these ideas (although he does that with a number of these throughout Colossians and all of them throughout his other writings), only that his belief in these ideas is embedded in these verses (and all of the letter).  Learning to recognize them upfront will help us get all that God means us to out of the letter.

                      Faith in the Gospel Always Bears Fruit (v.4, 6).

                      A third way we see the gospel woven into this opening paragraph is found throughout vs.4-6: The gospel, when received by faith, always produces fruit in increasing measure.  

                      Of this, Paul wrote, “… the gospel, 6 … has come to you…[and] it is bearing fruit and increasing… since the day you heard it…” 

                      We are right to wonder what, specifically, he meant by “fruit.”  Throughout the letter, we’ll see different kinds.  In v.4, though, we see the first of many, “We always thank God…when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints…

                      The Colossians had faith in Jesus and it bore the ever-increasing fruit of love for other Christians (“all the saints”).     

                      There are two equally grievous doctrinal mistakes that have been made throughout the history of the Church in this regard.  First, many have falsely believed that bearing fruit (being a good enough person, praying enough, going to church enough, doing enough good for enough people, giving enough money, reading the Bible enough, even loving all the saints enough, etc.) is the conduit through which the good news of the gospel flows.  That is the absolute antithesis of the gospel.  The whole point of the gospel, as we will see, is that it is impossible for anyone to bear sufficient fruit to make good news flow.  

                      A second common and equally grievous doctrinal mistake is that the only good news that flows through faith in Jesus is forgiveness of sins.  Many who have rightly realized that we can’t bear enough good fruit to produce good news for ourselves, have wrongly assumed that good fruit is entirely disconnected from the gospel.  But embedded in Paul’s opening words is the good news that through the same faith that forgiveness (justification) flows, so too does good fruit (sanctification).  Indeed, bearing good fruit is one of the surest signs that your faith is genuine, that it is indeed functioning as a conduit for the good news accomplished by Jesus.  

                      The Gospel Is Entirely Owing to the Grace of God (v.6)

                      Forth, the gospel is entirely owning to the grace of God.  Why is it that God has determined to make the good news of Jesus flow through faith, resulting in increasing fruit-bearing?  Only and entirely because of His grace.  

                      Paul refers to the gospel as “the grace of God” (v.6).

                      We’ve already seen that Jesus is the good news and faith is the conduit through which that flows.  

                      Grace is the only reason God sent His Son, Jesus, to be and bring the good news to a lost, sinful, undeserving, rebellious people.  Grace is unmerited favor.  It is a free gift of God.  It is God’s riches at Christ’s expense.  

                      And that (saved by grace in Jesus, not works of the law) was right at the heart of Paul’s ministry of mystery.  

                      The Gospel Is the Word of Truth (v.5, 6)

                      Fifth, the gospel is the word of truth.  We touched on this earlier as we considered the biblical notion of “faith.”  I said that faith is trust in something entirely true but also entirely invisible.  

                      It bears repeating that Paul firmly believed that every element of the gospel was/is true.  He makes a point of this in both vs.5 and 6.  

                      5 …. Of this [the hope laid up for you in heaven] you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel…

                      6 … [which is] bearing fruit and increasing…since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth…

                      Paul would elsewhere write that if any aspect of the gospel’s claims were false (particularly the resurrection), then everyone who trusts in it are fools to be pitied (1 Corinthians 15:12-19).

                      All of this is critical and worthy of repeating because of the central focus of this letter (addressing the syncretistic ideas (the lies) being presented to the Colossian Christians).  The gospel is a dividing line in a number of ways, but especially in that it is true, whereas the myriad other claims being thrown out at the Colossians were all false.

                      Grace, young adults especially, the gospel’s claims are true, factual, and accurate, or there is no version of Christianity worth participating in, much less setting your eternal hope in.  Paul believed this with all he had, all the way unto his death…and so must you!  

                      Ask your questions.  Seek answers.  Test the gospel’s claims.  Don’t be afraid to press on the truth.  It can handle it.  It will not fail because it is true.  You need the Spirit’s help (more in a bit) to see and believe, but that’s because our minds have been corrupted, not the claims of the gospel.

                      The Gospel Is Good News for the Whole World (v.6).

                      Sixth, the gospel is good news for the whole world.

                      …the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing…

                      Even though God’s world-wide plans were clear from the beginning, many of His people missed that from the beginning.  God commanded His people to take the good news of His glory unto the world, but instead they stayed together and built a tower to their own glory.  Abraham and his offspring were blessed in order to bless, but they loved the blessing itself more than the God who gave it and so they tried to hoard it for themselves.  Under King David, Israel reached its pinnacle as a nation and was poised to truly be a light to the nations (as God commanded), but instead, they got so caught up in their success that the kingdom was soon torn apart.  

                      The good news of God and His promised Deliverer were always meant to go from God’s people to the whole world.  But for all kinds of reasons, until Jesus’ sent His followers into the world, it always got held up.

                      Paul’s description of the gospel going into all the world, was truly the fulfillment of God’s promises from of old.  It was never for one tribe, one language group, one people, or one nation.  The good news of Jesus was always meant for the whole world and by the grace and power of God it was finally going into the whole world and bearing fruit.

                      The Gospel Cannot Be Kept to Ourselves (v.7)

                      Seventh, the gospel cannot be kept to ourselves.  If you truly know and believe the gospel, you simply cannot be silent about it.  You must share it with others.

                      In that way, evangelism is one of the fruits born whenever the gospel is received in faith.  The Colossian’s could only believe the gospel because they heard it.  They heard it because Epaphras shard it with them (v.7).  And Epaphras shard it with them because true faith in Jesus always results in sharing Jesus.  

                      We all do this in lesser ways all the time.  Whenever you come across anything you really like, that really impresses you, that is really good for you, you cannot help but to share that with others—a new band/song that, a new product that works better and costs less, a super cute sweater that’s on sale for 90% off, a new restaurant with the best, most authentic smoked meat, a new movie/TV show that was so good you binged the whole thing, you get the idea.  We love sharing the things we love.  

                      Now imagine coming across something that is not only enjoyable, but also life-saving—a new medicine that not only cured your disease, but made you stronger, smarter, and better looking too; a new treatment that not only took away your pain, but also caused you to be able to paint the most beautiful pictures.  Wherever that’s the case, then it’s even more obvious that you cannot keep this to yourself, right?  In fact, in that kind of situation, it’d be wrong to keep it to yourself.  If you care about the person at all, it’d be your great joy to share it.

                      The gospel is all of these things eternally and infinitely more.  It’s not only good news for some joy, for some time.  It’s good news of all joy forever.  And it’s not only that it provides some measure of rescue for some limited time, but that it is the promise of rescue from infinite and eternal suffering.  

                      Paul’s understanding of the gospel is woven through every verse in Colossians generally, and 1:3-8 specifically, and one aspect of it is that it is such good news for a world in such a bad spot, that we cannot receive it and keep it to ourselves.  We must take it, as we’ve seen, to the whole world, no matter the cost.  

                      The Gospel Is Empowered in Us by the Spirit (v.8).

                      Eighth, the gospel is empowered in us by the Spirit.  Paul doesn’t say much about the Holy Spirit in this letter, but as with the rest of the points, his belief in the Spirit’s unique role in empowering every aspect of the gospel is embedded in it all.  We get an example of this in v.8.

                      7 … Epaphras … 8 … has made known to us your love in the Spirit. 

                      We saw earlier that the love the Colossians had for one another was the fruit of the gospel in them.  We see here that it was the Holy Spirit that caused the gospel to bear that specific fruit in them.  Again, that is always the case for every gospel fruit—the Spirit is the one who gives the growth.  

                      What glory it is that God is Father, Son, and Spirit and all three persons of the godhead work together to cause the gospel to take root in us.  Praise Father, praise Son, praise Spirit, as we see their gospel work in Colossians!

                      The Gospel Is the Good News that We Have a Certain Hope Laid Up for Us in Heaven (v.5)

                      Finally, you might have noticed that I skipped a pretty big gospel clause in v.5.  I wanted to end with it because it is the most explicit gospel claim and the most significant part of Paul’s argument in this passage.  And because of those things, it ties everything together in a really helpful way.  

                      To help you see all of that, let’s reread vs.3-6.

                      3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 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…

                      Try to follow along as I do my best to explain the gospel-logic of these verses.  

                      In v.3, Paul wrote that he was filled with thankfulness to God for the Colossian Christians.  We’re right to wonder why. 

                      He tells us in the next verse (v.4): He was filled with thankfulness because of their faith in Jesus and the love they had for one another.  We’re right to wonder where that faith and love came from.

                      Again, he answers that question for us in the next verse (v.5): The Colossian Christians had faith in Jesus and love for one another “because of the hope laid up for [them] in heaven.”  We’re right to wonder what that hope is and where it came from.

                      In very Paul-like fashion, yet again, he answers those questions immediately.  

                      The Colossian believers were just normal Colossians.  They were going about their day, doing their best to do their best.  They were surrounded by all kinds of ideas and truth claims and opportunities—just like all of us.  And then, entirely unexpectedly, along came this guy named Epaphras.  He had some ideas, truth claims, and opportunities that were different than any they’d ever heard.  

                      Epaphras’s message was “the word of the truth, the gospel.”  Paul called his gospel “the grace of God in truth.”  In other words, Epaphras’s message was the good news that God was offering them an awesome gift.  It was a gift that they could receive immediately and was being kept (by God) eternally for them in heaven.    

                      So what was this heaven-kept gift being offered to them?

                      We have to look ahead a bit to find the specific content of that gift, that grace, that object of the hope.  We see it first in 1:13-14, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

                      And we see it even more clearly in 1:21-23, “And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith…”.

                      So, here’s the logic: Epaphras shared this news with the Colossians—the good news that God was offering all of them the gift of deliverance from darkness’s domain, entrance into the kingdom of Jesus, redemption, forgiveness, reconciliation, holiness, blamelessness, and the approval of God (above reproach).  All this was accomplished by Jesus’ death, and it would be theirs if they would trust that God was keeping it all for them.   

                      They believed him.  They trusted that God had indeed laid all of that up for them in heaven.  Awesome!

                      Conclusion

                      And so it is for you and I, Grace Church.  The same offer, the same good news of perfect hope being laid up for us in heaven, the same gospel, is available to all of us.  And if we will receive it in faith, we too will receive all that Epaphras offered to the Colossians and that Paul thanked God for. 

                      As the rest of this letter will make increasingly clear, and the thing I want you to see with crystal clarity, is that when we do believe this, when our faith truly is in Jesus, when we truly receive the good news, the gospel, then no facet of our lives will be untouched or unshaped by it.  Every thought, feeling, desire, and action will all be shaped by the hope that is laid up for us in heaven.  

                      It will be impossible to imagine any aspect of ourselves or others—who we are, what we’re for, where our value comes from, etc.—apart from who Jesus is and what He’s done for us.    

                      It will be impossible to imagine any aspect of going to school—picking classes, listening to the teacher, doing homework, walking down the hallways, hanging out with friends, eating lunch, participating in extracurricular activities, etc.—apart from how it relates to our citizenship in the kingdom of the beloved Son of God.  

                      It will be impossible to imagine any aspect of going to work—which job we take, where our job is, how we work, how we interact with bosses and coworkers, the quality of our work, the hours we work, etc.—apart from how it relates to the hope laid up for us in heaven.  

                      It will be impossible to imagine any aspect of church—which church, why we come, what ministries we participate in and don’t, how we view others within the church, where we serve, how we prepare for and participate in worship, how we pray for and talk to one another, etc.—apart from the gospel-love we have for all the saints.

                      It will be impossible to imagine any of our free time and money—what we do and buy, who we spend them with, what brings joy and rest, what we look to for pleasure and where we find it—apart from the grace of God in truth.  

                      As Christians we strive to mature in our relationship with God.  And the central component of maturing in our relationship with God is learning to see all of life through the lens of the gospel.  Press into that this week.  Talk to others about it.  Find out where they’re doing that well with the Spirit’s help and where they are struggling.  

                      The gospel is good news for every aspect of our lives forever.  Let us learn together, therefore, to live more fully in light of it for the glory of God and the good of the whole world.  

                      45 min
                    8. The Unique Joy of Faithfulness

                      Colossians 1:3-8 –

                      3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 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, 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf 8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

                      Introduction

                      As I pointed out last week, the primary reason Paul wrote this letter to the Colossians was to head off a potentially significant trial.  Colossae was filled with people of every religion, philosophy, profession, and allegiance.  The result was that the church there was ever-bombarded with the temptation to various forms of syncretism—adding things to Jesus for salvation or godly living.  Paul knew how dangerous, even deadly that was and so he wrote them a letter to explain the problem and plead with them to accept the solution: Christ over all and in all.  

                      The point I’m trying to make is that this was a serious letter about a very serious matter.  

                      And the reason that’s significant in relation to this sermon is that you’d never know it by the tone of our passage.  You’d never know that the purity of the gospel and the salvation of this small church was hanging in the balance by Paul’s words in vs.3-8, would you?   

                      Why is that?  

                      It is because there’s a unique joy (a fruit of the Spirit joy) that’s available to God’s people when we are surrounded by faithfulness.

                      The smallest trial can be devastating if we are walking in or among faithlessness or if we are uncertain of God’s faithfulness.  I’ve felt that many times.  Have you?  I remember seasons of trial where the discouragement they caused was greatly amplified by my ignorance (not knowing what faithfulness meant), my sin (walking in faithlessness), the sin of others, and my doubt that God would do what He’d said (according to His promises).  There are few places more devoid of joy and filled with despair than areas of hardship coupled with faithlessness.

                      But at the same time, the opposite is true as well.  The biggest trial can be navigated with peace and joy when we’re walking in faith, among a people who are walking in faith, and certain of God’s impeccable faithfulness.  I’ve experienced that as well.  And that was the case for Paul in our passage.  

                      In vs.3-8 Paul gives us a picture of a faithful God, faithful saints, his own faithful prayers, and the unique joy that comes with all of that.  Those things didn’t eliminate or even minimize the seriousness of the issue before him.  They didn’t erase Paul’s need to address the central (syncretistic) question or cancel his plea to the Colossians to receive his answer in faith.  But they did eliminate any temptation toward desperation or despondency that might otherwise have been there for him.  And, more significantly, they did replace those things with an overwhelming spirit of joyfulness and thankfulness.  

                      To help us all learn to share in this unique joy, from these few verses, we’ll consider God’s unwavering faithfulness, the Colossians remarkable faithfulness, and Paul’s exemplary prayers of faithfulness.  And as we do, I hope the big idea of this passage will become clear: Thanksgiving and joy during significant trial come from our faith in God’s faithfulness.  And the main takeaway is to cultivate a growing understanding of God, His promises, and His commands, in order that we might increasingly trust and obey (live faithfully), in order that we might walk in joyful thanksgiving whatever may come.

                      Faithful God

                      Once again, the very heart of this passage and Paul’s joy revealed in it is the perfect faithfulness of God to all His promises.  We see that in four distinct and awesome ways in our passage, beginning in the very first words of our passage.  

                      God Was Faithful to Keep the Colossians Faithful 

                      In the beginning of v.3, Paul directs his gratitude for every good thing he knows of the Colossian Christians to God.  That is, in spite of all the difficulties his letter represents, he finds peace in the knowledge that God was faithful to keep the Colossian believers faithful to Himself.  

                      3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints…

                      It was the Colossians who were holding fast and walking in love, but it was God that Paul thanked.  That’s because Paul knew that any faithfulness in the Colossian believers was the result of God’s faithfulness to them.  It was God who called them into faith and it was God who sustained their faith.  Therefore, He was the primary object of Paul’s thankfulness and joy.  And joy rooted, not in our ever-changing circumstances, but in faith in the never-changing faithfulness of God to His the kind of unique joy that survives no matter the circumstances.

                      God Was Faithful as Father

                      A second aspect of God’s faithfulness that was at the heart of Paul’s thankfulness is more subtly revealed here.  It concerns God’s faithfulness to His Fatherly nature.  You may remember from v.2 that Paul commended “grace and peace” to the Colossian believers from “God our Father.”  

                      This idea (of God as Father) is continued and expanded in our passage.  This time, though, Paul notes (in v.3) that God is not only our Father, but He is “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” as well.

                      There are essential differences between the way God is our Father and the way He is Jesus’ Father.  For instance, while we bear the Father’s image, Jesus shares His essence.  While we were adopted as His children, Jesus is His eternally begotten Son.  And while there is nothing we can do to accomplish our adoption, Jesus accomplished it for us.

                      However, although there are differences, there are also ways in which God’s Fathering of us and Jesus is similar.  The most significant of which (for this sermon), is that God is a perfectly faithful Father in every possible way, both for Jesus and for us.  Paul knew that and was filled with thankfulness for that.   

                      Grace, part of being made in the image of God is to have a kind of father hunger—a God-infused longing for someone to look to for origin, provision, protection, direction, wisdom, identity, stability, love, and affirmation.  When our father hunger is met—when we have a father who is faithful to his God-given charge—it comes with a kind of stability that can weather most any storm.  How many scary things that happen during the childhood of kids with faithful fathers are entirely unknown to them, having been silently born by their fathers on their behalf?  How many trials born by kids without faithful fathers are entirely unknown by those with them?

                      And yet, God is a perfectly faithful Father in ways that the best earthly dads can’t come close to matching and the worst earthly fathers can’t come close to stealing.  Living in that knowledge, as did the Apostle Paul, brings a unique joy no matter our circumstances.  

                      God Was Faithful to Lay Up the Colossians’ Hope in Heaven

                      We see God’s faithfulness (and Paul’s joy in light of it) again in v.5.  There, Paul acknowledged that there was hope “laid up for [the Colossian believers] in heaven.”  Both the context and grammar of this clause (“laid up”) makes it clear that it was God who laid up that hope for the Colossians.  They did not and could not lay it up for themselves.  And as Peter points out (1 Peter 1:4-5), that hope “is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for …salvation…”.

                      We’ll consider this more closely next week, but for now, Grace Church, rejoice in the knowledge that God is eternally faithful to keep our hope laid up for us in heaven.  Paul knew that and we are right to join him in praising God for that faithfulness!

                      God Was Faithful to Save People throughout the Whole World

                      Finally, we see God’s faithfulness embedded in v.6, “the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing.  That the gospel was bearing fruit and increasing among the Colossians and throughout the whole world, was ultimately because God was causing it to do so according to His promise to do so.  He was faithful to His promises to make Jesus Christ a light to all nations, to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of Christ in them (1:27).  

                      Grace, we must settle now on something Paul seemed to know so well…that every good thing in us and through us, has been, is, and ever will be the result of God’s faithfulness to His promises.  We deserve nothing but His fierce and eternal judgment for our sin, but we get nothing in Christ but His eternal blessing.  He is our faithful Father.  He is faithful unto heaven.  And His faithfulness covers the whole world—every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.    

                      God’s faithfulness is why Paul was primarily marked by joyful thanksgiving even though hard things were happening.  Is that the case for you?  Are you able to say that as well?  Are you aware of God’s promises to you in Jesus, promises that He will be eternally faithful to, promises that, if you receive them in faith, will overshadow (not eliminate) every hardship with a unique joy?

                      Faithful Saints in Colossae

                      The second aspect of faithfulness on display in this passage—the second source of Paul’s thanksgiving and joy in the midst of the serious trial—was the faithfulness of the Colossian Christians.  Epaphras had planted the church in Colossae and had spent time teaching them of its implications for their life.  In other words, he had a front row seat to all that God had done in and among them since the beginning.  Therefore, when he went to visit Paul and seek his counsel, he was able to tell in great detail of their faithfulness (8 [Epaphras] has made known to us your love in the Spirit”).

                      Paul rejoiced, therefore, through Epaphras’s report, in God’s faithfulness, which led to Epaphras’s faithfulness, which led to the Colossian’s faithfulness.  Let’s take a look at the forms their faithfulness took—Epaphras’s first, and then the Colossians.  

                      Epaphras Was Faithful in Ministering to the Colossians

                      Epaphras was faithful in ministering to the Colossians.  We see this in two primary ways.  

                      First, Epaphras faithfully shared the gospel with the Colossians that they might receive it in faith (vs.5-7).  

                      Of this [the hope laid up for them in heaven] you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you… since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant…

                      This was not a prestigious people.  It was not a resort town that Epaphras would have enjoyed traveling to for some recreational purpose.  It was not a mission trip to the Caymen Islands.  As we saw last week, it was a mission trip to a small, insignificant, has-been, Roman outpost.  

                      In other words, there was nothing to draw Epaphras to Colossae other than a supernatural faith in the “word of truth, the gospel,” a faith-driven, supernatural love for those who had not yet heard it, and a supernatural faith in God to cause some who heard his message to come alive in Christ.  

                      O, what a lesson that is for us, Grace.  Absent any of those ingredients (personal faith in the gospel, faith-driven love for the lost, and faith in the power of the gospel for salvation), we will remain comfortable and silent.  We will not share with our neighbors, much less strangers on the other side of the city, much less strangers on the other side of the world.  But Epaphras had all three by the grace of God and therein faithfully evangelized the Colossians.  

                      Paul knew of that and was, therefore, filled with joy and thanksgiving despite the challenges he faced.  O, what hope and joy there is in seeing God work in ways that cannot be explained by anything but the mighty power of God.  O, what trial-overshadowing power there is in seeing God’s miraculous work all around us.  

                      A second way we see Epaphras’s faithfulness among the Colossians is in the fact that he not only evangelized them, but also stayed with them to minister more of the counsel of God to them (v.7).

                      7 … He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf… 

                      It is a staggering gift to be given the basic truths of the gospel.  Indeed, we do not need to know all that Jesus taught to come saving faith in Jesus; only that our sin has brought the wrath of God upon us, that we are unable to rescue ourselves from it, and that Jesus Christ alone was able to absorb the wrath of God on behalf of all who would trust in Him.  

                      However, while we don’t need to know most of what Jesus taught in order to become a Christian, we do need to know all that He taught to become mature Christians.  We can share/hear the basics of the gospel in 10 seconds, but we need the rest of our lives to take in the rest.  

                      I imagine that we’ve all seen people stuck in spiritual infancy/immaturity.  They know the very basics of the gospel, they seem to genuinely have faith in it, but much of their lives are, often unknowingly and frustratingly, untouched by the rest of the counsel of God.  

                      Jesus commissioned His followers to offer both to the whole world (Matthew 28:18-20).  Epaphras was faithful to that call among the Colossians.  Paul knew that and it filled him with joy and thanksgiving.  

                      As a pastor, there are few greater joys available to me than to hear stories of you all ministering the Word of God to one another, helping one another understand God’s will for your lives and what it means to live it out in faith.  Stories like that are truly strengthening, healing, faith-building, and joy-filling for me; just as they were for Paul.

                      The Colossians Were Faithful in Receiving and Responding to the Gospel

                      By the glorious grace of God, Epaphras was faithful in sharing the gospel and its implications, and by the same glorious grace of God, the Colossians were faithful in receiving it.  

                      Paul rejoiced, having “heard of [the Colossians’] faith in Christ Jesus” (v.4).  He further rejoiced that they not only heard the gospel, but also “understood the grace of God in truth” (v.6).

                      It is a miraculous work of God every time one of His people is so burdened by love for Him and neighbor that we are compelled to share the gospel with someone in faith.  But it is no less a miraculous work of God when the people we share it with receive it in faith.  

                      Likewise, it is a miraculous gift of God every time one of His people is so burdened by love for Him and neighbor that we are compelled to unpack the doctrines of God for those who believe.  And it is no less a miraculous work of God when those we teach receive that in faith, as was the case with the Colossian believers.  

                      Not only did they receive the gospel in faith, but also Epaphras’s teaching, such that they were filled with “love … for all the saints” (v.4).  Not only did they receive his teaching as the “grace of God in truth,” through faith in it, it was “bearing fruit and increasing…since the day [they] heard it and understood [it]” (v.6).

                      Again, Paul recognized these things for what they were.  He recognized the sovereign grace of God that had taken hold of the Colossians, gave thanks to God for it, and that fueled his trust that God would continue to be faithful through their attempt to navigate the syncretistic heresy confronting them.   

                      Faithful Prayers of Paul

                      The Colossian believers were in a tough spot.  What might have led to despair, however, led to the opposite for Paul.  Why?  Because he saw God’s faithfulness, Epaphras’s faithfulness, and the faithfulness of the Colossians.  He recognized all of that for what it was: the awesome, unstoppable grace of God.  Who can fret when such miraculous power is on display all around you?  

                      Rather than be consumed by difficult circumstances, as we are so prone to do, Paul stood back, eagerly anticipating whatever form God’s creative, perfect, future grace would take.  The result of all of these things being revealed to Paul by God and Epaphras, therefore, caused Paul to be strengthened in his faith.  

                      And in that, his natural response was to turn to God in prayer, thanking Him for His faithfulness and grace, and seeking more of both for the Colossian Christians (v.3).  

                      I mean to close, then, by making a small handful of observations on Paul’s prayer, which is an example of and admonition to faithful prayer for us all:

                      Faithful Prayer Is Always Directed at God

                      “We always thank God when we pray for you…” (v.3), Paul wrote.  This might sound obvious—who else would prayers be directed at, right?  But having watched nine seasons of Alone, I can assure you that it isn’t.  It’s still amazing and sickening to me to watch person after person, season after season, after weeks of slow starvation catch a fish and thank everything—the fish, whatever they made the lure out of, the river, the spirits—but God for it.  Like Paul’s all faithful prayers are directed at the One True God, maker of heaven and earth. 

                      Faithful Prayer Is Filled with Thanksgiving

                      “We always thank God when we pray for you…” (v.3).  Remember, the occasion for the letter is hardship, and yet Paul’s immediate and overwhelming response was one of thankful joy.  I’ve been forever marked by something I read years ago.  At every single moment, from now through eternity, the answer to the question, “How are you doing?,” for everyone in Christ is, objectively, “Better than I deserve.”  No matter how bad, how hard, how grievous our circumstances, they are infinitely better than what our sin warrants.  And, if for no other reason, faith in that alone ought to fill us with gratitude in every prayer.  Faithful prayers are filled with thanksgiving, which is a banner over all the days of the faithful.

                      Faithful Prayer Is Amazed by God’s Grace  

                      This is sort of the opposite side of the coin from the last point.  Paul recognized that it was only by the grace of God that there was “hope laid up for [the Colossian believers] in heaven…” (5) and that amazed him.  It was at the heart of his prayers to God for the Colossians.  It was God who laid it up and it was God who would keep it for them.  In other words, the Colossians’ future was secure entirely because of God’s grace for them.  Faithful prayer recognizes and is amazed by that.  

                      Faithful Prayers Are Offered through Jesus Christ 

                      Paul prayed for the Colossians consistently, thanking God in no small measure because they were marked by lives of faith in Jesus (v.4).  Paul’s prayer of faith would have been much different if the Colossians had been relying on keeping the law or good works or their own strength for salvation or spiritual growth.  Paul was filled with thanksgiving for the Colossians because they were trusting in Jesus and not themselves.  When God’s people get that, when we get that Grace, we have unlimited access to the unique joy of faithfulness.

                      Faithful Prayer Is Eternally Focused

                      When our hope is truly in God, when our faith is firm in His nature and promises, it will shape our day-to-day lives; it will give us peace in times of trial; it will allow us to endure every earthly hardship with a unique joy.  But it will also look to that which is to come—everlasting life with God in heaven (v.5) where trials are done forever.  Again, God had laid a certain hope up for the Colossians for all time, Paul trusted that, and his prayers and disposition were shaped by it.  

                      Faithful prayers are globally aware.  

                      Paul, in his prayers to God for the Colossians, celebrated not only what God was doing among them, but also that which God was doing “in the whole world” (6).  It’s so easy to focus exclusively on our narrow sphere of sight.  Faithful prayers, though, are global.  Faithful prayers are fueled by the awesome reality that Christ is over all and in all the earth.  When we see what God is doing among us, it strengthens our faith.  And when we see what God is doing throughout the whole world, it strengthens us all the more.  

                      Grace, let us join Paul in praying, filled with faith in the certain knowledge that God is always working an unlimited number of glorious things for the good of the world, all over the world.  A good friend of mine gave a really helpful message (and wrote a devotional) on this recently.   In the message he said, “Our entire pessimism is based off our finite and often mistaken ability to see what God is doing.”  If we only knew the 10 trillion ways God was at work for glory and good at every moment, we’d never be discouraged.  Paul prayed prayers filled with faith in that, and so should we.  

                      Finally, Faithful Prayer Is Concerned with Others  

                      Faithless prayers focus exclusively on ourselves and what we don’t have.  Faithful prayers focus on others, pleading with God on their behalf and thanking God for the grace in their lives.  Faithlessness is threatened by the work of God in others.  Faithfulness celebrates it with them and with God in prayer.  Faithlessness prays that others would love us.  Faithfulness continually expresses love for others.  Paul thought and prayed faithfully, which is why he wrote (and prayed) of Epaphras, that he is “our beloved fellow servant.” And that “He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf” (vs.6-7).  

                      Much of this opening section of Paul’s letter to the Colossians is a written description of the cause for Paul’s consistent, faithful prayers of thanksgiving for them.  And in that we see that his faithful prayers were directed to God, filled with thanksgiving, amazed by God’s grace, offered through Jesus, eternally focused, globally aware, and concerned for others.  

                      Because this was Paul’s mind and heart, these were his prayers.  And because these were his prayers, he was filled with thanksgiving and joy when most of us would be discouraged by the hardship that confronted the Colossians.  

                      Conclusion

                      To borrow from Ecclesiastes, God’s faithfulness and the Colossians’ faithfulness were like a rocket ship that took Paul above the clouds to see the sun at warp speed.  And that strengthened Paul’s faith in the goodness of God in every trial.  

                      The result of Paul’s faithfulness, awareness of the Colossians’ faithfulness, and trust in God’s faithfulness was, once again, thankfulness and joy.  He knew they had plenty of work in front of them, he knew the hardships that were already upon them, but He also knew that as long as they continued to keep their eyes on Jesus (to remain faithful to Him), they would continue to know the joy of the Spirit, come what may.  

                      I commend that to you all now, Grace Church, especially those of you who were just baptized into the name of the Triune God.  Your baptism is a declaration that you believe these things.  Live lives of faith, therefore.  Trust in the goodness of God’s commands and obey them.  Trust in the certainty of God’s promises and believe them.  Trust in the sufficiency of the grace of God and rest in it.  For when you do, you too will know the unique joy of faithfulness no matter your circumstances.  Let us seek this from the Lord and help one another cultivate it in our lives, for Christ is over all and in all.  Amen.

                      39 min
                    9. Colossians: Christ Over All

                      Colossians 1:1-2 –

                      1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2 To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

                      Introduction

                      Since becoming the preaching pastor here in 2013, I’ve preached through the last 1/3 of the Gospel of Mark and all the way through 1 John, Titus, 1 Peter, Hosea, Ruth, Genesis, James, John’s Gospel, and Ecclesiastes.  

                      With each book, I’m a little embarrassed to say, I was genuinely caught off guard by the way God used it to work in our church.  I never doubted that God gives grace through the preaching of His Word or that careful exposition is usually the most faithful approach to preaching, but I continually underestimated the magnitude of what He would do among us and the consistency with which He would do so.  

                      What I also find interesting is that there were very few times in which He used individual sermons to bring about those changes (at least from what I could tell).  Rather, He seemed to do so through the cumulative effect of spending months (and sometimes years) in each book.  

                      For all those reasons, I’m truly excited for the chance to spend another significant chunk of time with you all in another book of the Bible.  And with that, welcome to Colossians and the expectation that God will continue to do great things in us, through this most remarkable letter on the preeminence of Jesus Christ!

                      The big idea of this sermon—which is the big idea of Colossians as a whole—is that the unlimited number of “Christ and” approaches to life are always eternally deadly, while the “Christ over all” approach is the only and certain path to eternal life.  The main takeaways are to do everything you can to take in all the messages on Colossians and to begin taking inventory of the “ands” in your life.  

                      Grace, I urge you not to make the same mistakes I’ve made over and over in allowing myself to be underwhelmed by Jesus (even for a moment) and in underestimating the sanctifying power of placing myself under God’s preached Word week after week after week.  I think you’ll find, as I’m about to pray, that God means Colossians to be an awesome remedy for both.   

                      The Background

                      Before I get into the background of Colossians, I want to say a few, brief words about the nature of the Bible by sharing a small portion of my experience with it.  And I mean to do so to help you see why understanding the background of Colossians is so important.  

                      When I first came to faith in Christ as a 19-year-old, I’d read a few out-of-context verses from the Bible and I’d heard many more read in different contexts, but I don’t think I’d ever read an entire chapter, much less an entire book.  I had a sense that the Bible was from God, but no concept of what that meant.  I’m sure I couldn’t have named 90% of the books of the Bible and I don’t know that I knew a single biblical author.  The main point that I’m trying to make is that for the first two decades of my life, I had no idea what the Bible was really, in no small measure because I didn’t really care what the Bible really was.  

                      I didn’t recognize any of that until I came to faith in Jesus.  Once I did, it all became quickly and painfully clear.  Through steady Bible reading on my part, the faithful teaching/preaching/discipleship of others, and the strong desire for understanding that the Spirit put in me, I’ve been growing to know and appreciate what the Bible is, what it teaches, and what that means ever since.  

                      All of that leads to one of the more important things I’ve learned about God’s Word over all the years; namely, that it consists of 66 separate books, all inspired by God and written by men with three critical aims: (1) Accomplishing some specific purpose among its first recipients, (2) Revealing more of God’s ultimate plan for the world, and (3) Equipping all of His people for all time with some of what we need to honor Him.  

                      The ultimate goal of Bible reading/study is the third aim (sufficient help to live as God intends), but the first two are essential means to that end.  We can’t know how a passage applies to us today if we don’t know it’s original intent or its place in the larger story.  And we can’t know the author’s original intent apart from a humble acknowledgement that every book of the Bible was written in a dramatically different context and culture from what we have today.  For instance, Colossians is a letter written nearly 2000 years ago, on another content, in another language, to a very different people, with a very different mindset, before cars, phones, electricity, and internet.  

                      Therefore, if we are to read Colossians (or any other book of the Bible) as we are meant to, we need to understand its background.  We’ll being with the author.  

                      The Author: Paul

                      Who wrote this letter and what do we know about him?  Helpfully, the author opens his letter by identifying himself, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.” So, who was Paul?  

                      Of himself he said (in Acts 22:3): “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in [Jerusalem], educated at the feet of Gamaliel [“a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people” (Acts 5:34)] according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day.

                      He was a well-educated, zealous Jewish leader and very proud of those things.  He elaborated on that idea in some of his other writings.  He referred to himself as (Philippians 3:5-6), “circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee… as to righteousness under the law, blameless.”  

                      In his Jewish zeal and blamelessness, he was adamant about silencing Jesus’ followers, believing them to be heretics.  To that end, he wrote of himself, (Philippians 3:6) “as to zeal, a persecutor of the church…”.   And (Acts 22:4), “I persecuted [Christians] to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women…”  

                      He continued in that until one day, on his way to persecute Christians in a town called Damascus, something entirely unexpected happened: the resurrected Jesus appeared to him. 

                      Describing this experience, Paul said, (Acts 22:6-8)…about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone around me. 7 And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ 8 And I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.’ 

                      From there, Paul told of being led to Damascus and what happened next…

                      (Acts 22:13-16)“And one Ananias… 13  came to me, and standing by me said to me…14 … ‘The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see [Jesus] and to hear a voice from his mouth; 15 for you will be a witness for him to everyone of what you have seen and heard. 16 And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.’ 

                      Though originally an avowed enemy of Jesus and His followers, Paul was miraculously saved by Jesus.  More than that, he was (as we just read and as he says at the beginning of Colossians), commissioned by God as an apostle of Jesus to be a missionary to the Gentiles throughout the whole world.  

                      Of this, in another place he wrote (Galatians 1:15-16), “But …[God] set me apart before I was born, and …called me by his grace, [He] was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles…”.

                      From that point on, Paul faithfully gave himself to this mission, at an unimaginably great cost to himself.  In fact, as we’ll see in a bit, Paul wrote Colossians, while imprisoned for obeying God.  

                      Rather than being deterred from his mission by his persecution, Paul only grew in resolve.  Far from longing for a comfortable life, his greatest desire was that he might (Philippians 3) “10  … know [Jesus] and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible [he might] attain the resurrection from the dead.”  

                      Indeed, he did share in Christ’s sufferings as he shared in Christ’s mission.  He describes them as consisting of nearly non-stop (2 Corinthians 11:23-28) hard work, imprisonments, near-death beatings, lashings, stoning, shipwrecks, dangers, sleeplessness, hunger and thirst, harsh weather, and stress.

                      From the time of his miraculous conversion on the road to Damascus, the Apostle Paul gave his life to proclaiming the good news that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners (1 Timothy 1:15).  Doing so cost him nearly every earthly comfort.  Indeed, it is likely that Colossians was written when he was on house arrest in Rome; which would mean that he was near the end of his life.  

                      He went from being among the most educated, zealous, and powerful Jews, to writing lowly letters, to a lowly group of people, in a lowly town, from prison, near death.  Because of that, we might be tempted to feel sorry for Paul.  He would think us fools for doing so.  For, he rejoiced in his sufferings for the sake of the church (1:24) and was eager to fill “up what [was] lacking in Christ’s afflictions”.  His struggle was more than worth it since in Christ are “hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (2:3).  And, therefore, he counted “everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord,” acknowledging that it was for His “sake [that] I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I might gain Christ…” (Philippians 3:8).

                      Why take so much time considering the author’s background?  If we are to get out of Paul’s letter to the Colossians all that God has for us in this letter to the Colossians, it will mean keeping in mind both what Paul had been through also how he understood it.  

                      The Recipients: Colossian Christians

                      Reading Colossians well means having a grasp not only on its author, but also its recipients.  Who was this letter written to?  Again, helpfully, we find out right away (in v.2), “To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae.”  This letter was written by Paul to a small group of Christians in the small city of Colossae.  Let’s briefly consider the city and the people.

                      1. The City (Colossae).  Colossae, a city in the bottom, western side of modern-day Turkey, was once very prominent.  For various reasons, however, it had been in steady decline for centuries leading up to the time of Paul’s letter.  It was at that time a relatively small Roman city that had just begun regaining some of its lost ground.  Of particular significance is the fact that it was filled with people from all kinds of economic, religious, and philosophical backgrounds.  Archeologists have found coins there, revealing worship “of such deities as the Artemies of Ephesus, Zeus, Men of Phrygia, Hygeia, Athena, Boule, Demeter, and Selene, in addition to the Egyptian gods Isis and Serapis” (Beale, BECNT, 9).  This is significant primarily in that it helps account for the letter’s message (more in a bit) and the challenges the church there faced.

                        2. Who, then, were the recipients.  That is, who were the Colossian Christians?

                        1. The People (Colossian Christians).  The Colossian church consisted primarily of Gentiles (1:12, 21, 27), but there were also a fair number of Jews as well.  Paul had never visited the church and it was not one of the churches he helped start.  It began as a result of the preaching of Epaphras (1:7), who was imprisoned along with Paul at the time of the writing of the letter.  

                          2. As I mentioned above, at the time this letter was written, Colossae was a kind of melting pot of people and ideas.  Despite a nearly unending buffet line of options, Paul was exceedingly confident in the fact that the Colossian church was filled with “saints and faithful brothers in Christ.”   This too, I’ll say more in in a minute.

                          All of that brings us to the message of the letter.  Why did he write it?  What was it really about?

                          The Message: Christ Over All

                          The message of the letter flows right out of the purpose for the letter.  The church, in the melting pot that was Colossae, was being presented with “plausible arguments” (2:4), worldly “philosophy and empty deceit” (2:8) regarding the nature of the gospel and the Christian life.  

                          Epaphras, having established the church in Colossae, was alarmed, uncertain, and underpowered.  In other words, he could tell that the things being taught to (and maybe by some in) the church were serious, but he was unsure of how to address them and, therefore, wanted the wisdom and authority of an apostle to settle the matter.  For those reasons, on behalf of the church, he traveled to visit Paul and seek his counsel.  

                          As a quick aside, how many times have you longed for such a thing?  How many times have you had a specific question (or set of questions) and wished you had an apostle, someone directly inspired by God to directly answer your questions?  I can’t even count the number of times I’ve longed for that.  Although appealing, God’s Word is plain that what we do have is entirely sufficient and genuinely (albeit mysteriously) better.  We have the completed Bible and an indwelling Spirit and those things are more than enough for all that God has for us.  

                          At the same time, it is good to be around people who can help you work through the meaning and implications of the Bible as you read it.  Come to Berea (that’s what it’s for), to DG (where you can ask questions and work together on application), and read your Bibles daily.

                          The occasion (the reason, the purpose, the heart) of this letter, then, is Paul’s answer to Epaphras’s question concerning the concerning teachings being spread throughout the church in Colossae.  

                          In one sense, the message of Colossians is found at the end of v.2: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father.”  In that way, the rest of the letter is largely an unpacking of the specific grace and source of peace they needed.  

                          In the remainder of this sermon, I’ll give a high-level overview of the four-part “grace and peace” message of Colossians: Paul’s God-given perspective on the status, problem, solution, and application for the Colossian church.  

                          The Status: Admirable Faithfulness

                          The Christians in Colossae were being confronted with serious questions (which we’ll come to in the next part).  They were in the minority, isolated, and vulnerable.  They’d sent Epaphras to get the answers they needed, but what was their status in the meantime?  

                          Paul was unwavering in his answer.  In fact, it’s hard to imagine what more effuse praise would sound like.  May these things be said of Grace Church by all who worship with us.

                          “We always thank God…when we pray for you” (1:3) because of “your faith in Christ Jesus and … the love you have for all the saints” (1:4) and because “the gospel…[has been] bearing fruit and increasing…since the day you heard it (1:6).  Therefore, as he wrote his letter, Paul was “rejoicing to see [their] good order and the firmness of [their] faith in Christ” (2:5).

                          They were holy ones.  They were children of God.  Their earthly home was Colossae, but their true citizenship had been graciously transferred by God to the kingdom of His beloved Son (1:13).  Their faith was in Jesus (1:4).  They were a people who loved one another (1:4).  They had hope laid up for them in heaven (1:5).  They understood the grace of God in truth (1:6).  They were, in most every way, a church worthy of imitating.  

                          This may have been a humble group, but they were truly exemplary in their response to the gospel when it came to them and in their faithful lives since then.

                          What was their status?  Admirable faithfulness. 

                          The Problem: Christ And Anything

                          Their admirable faithfulness did not mean that they were home free, however.  Their past and present trust in Jesus did not a guarantee future trust.  It is a mistake to believe that there were no temptations capable of derailing them.  

                          In that way, Grace, praise God for whatever past faithfulness He’s granted you, but remember that no one is saved by having believed in Jesus.  We are united to Him in salvation through believing in Him.  We must, therefore, continue to walk in Him (2:6).  We must see to it that no one takes us “captive by philosophy and empty deceit” (2:8).  And we must make sure that “no one disqualifies” us (2:18).  

                          Indeed, a temptation was being presented to the Colossian church that had Epaphras concerned enough to travel to Paul and Paul concerned enough to write them a letter and send it back at the cost of two of the few people he had to help him (Tychicus and Onesimus, for Epaphras had been put in prison with Paul).  That’s the primary occasion for this letter; something scholars have called “The Colossian Heresy.”  But what, exactly was this concern and who was teaching it?  

                          In preparation for preaching, I spent a good deal of time trying to follow along with the scholarly debates that have taken place over the years on that question.  Doing so was a bit amusing and a lot daunting.  The bottom line is that Paul never explicitly states the problem or its proponents.  He knows that his readers already know what and who he was talking about, so he only hints and them and spends most of his time on the solution.  In that way, what we know about the false doctrine and false teachers comes mostly from reading between the lines and playing Jeopardy (Paul gives the answer and we need to figure out the question).  

                          We’ll come to the answer in a minute.  First, though, let me highlight a few of the problem-hints Paul gives.

                          After expressing his gratitude for the faithfulness of the Colossians, declaring the preeminence of Jesus, and then describing the nature of his ministry, Paul began indirectly addressing the false teaching he wanted to help the Colossian believers avoid.  

                          In 2:4 he writes, “I say this [that Christ is the understanding and knowledge of God] in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.”  Paul’s letter to the Colossians was written primarily to keep the church there from being deluded with plausible arguments.  He doesn’t really say what the arguments are, only that they’re present and deadly.

                          Likewise, in 2:8 we read, “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.”  Again, we’re not sure what philosophy, deceit, tradition, or spirits he has in mind, only that they are not in accord with the mind of Christ and are, therefore, of inestimable danger for the Colossians.

                          And again in 2:16 Paul warns, “Let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind…”.  It seems that a lot of things were being thrown at the Colossian Christians which were capable of turning their hearts aways from Jesus.  We get a bit more specificity here as to what they were (asceticism and angel worship, for instance), but it’s still not clear what the heart of the matter really is.

                          Paul’s letter to the Colossians was, once again, primarily intended to address some form of heresy.  But we’re still left with the question of what, exactly that heresy was.  What is the thread that binds together all the things we just read from chapter 2?  

                          The answer, I believe, was an ever-present temptation to various forms of syncretism.  The church was continually encouraged to add things to Jesus for salvation.  The “Colossian Heresy” was, what I call, a “Christ and” heresy.  

                          O, Grace, what a tragic and universal problem that is.  The specific forms it took for the Colossians are at least somewhat different than the forms it took during the Middle Ages and the time of the Reformation and even today.  But the form it takes is far less important than learning how destructive, evil, prevalent, and sneaky it is.  

                          The idea that we need to add anything to Jesus for salvation is from the pit of hell.  The idea that adding anything to Jesus is necessary for true satisfaction and complete joy is from the pit of hell.  The idea that we need to add anything to the mind of Christ to know how to experience the fullness of life He came to bring is from the pit of hell.

                          Paul knew all of this and was jealous and zealous to keep the Colossians, whom he loved, from falling to those hell-pits.  What, then, was Paul’s solution?  

                          The Solution: Christ Over All

                          If the problem was the temptation toward “Jesus and” theology, Paul’s solution was “Jesus only” theology.  And the reason for that is simple: Jesus is above all.  Jesus is the greatest treasure.  He is eternal life and satisfaction.  He is the fullness of the wisdom of God.  All of Him with nothing else is everything.  Everything else without Him is nothing.  He is over all!

                          Paul begins to unpack this idea in the middle of the first chapter.  In some of the most important and awesome words in all Scripture, Paul yells at the top of his lungs: “Christ is supreme!  He is above all!  He is preeminent in heaven and earth (1:15-23)!

                          15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. 

                          “Jesus and” thinking, the “Colossian Heresy,” is hell-doctrine.  The solution Paul offers is the Kingdom doctrine of “Jesus above all!”  

                          Throughout the rest of the letter, we see that Christ is over all in that there is salvation in Him alone (2:13-15).  In that He was crucified, buried, raised, and victories over every power, so that we might be made alive and victorious with Him forever (2:13-15).  In that, in Him, our old self of darkness and death is put to death and our new self of light and life is born (3:9-10).  In that Jesus alone transfers us from the kingdom of the evil one to His kingdom (1:13-14).  And in that He comes into us and fills us with hope of glory and treasures forevermore (1:27-2:10).

                          Rightly understood and truly experienced, then, Paul offers the Colossians power sufficient to completely eliminate every temptation to add anything to Jesus: An explanation of who Jesus really is and what He has done.  

                          Grace, my greatest hope and my most fervent prayer is we will move even one or two or three steps further along in believing and experiencing the supremacy of Jesus Christ over all through our time in this book!  And with that, that we, together, working in the power of the Spirit, might root out every remaining ounce of “and” left in us.

                          The Result: Christ in All

                          Finally, then, what does it look like to live lives that reject “Christ and” thinking and wholly embrace “Christ over all” thinking?  Much of the latter half of the letter is dedicated to answering that question.  

                          Throughout our time in this letter, we’ll see that it means (2:6-7) walking in Jesus, “rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, …[and] abounding in thanksgiving.”  We’ll se that it means being (2:12) “buried with him in baptism, in which [we are] also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.”  We’ll see that it means “Putting off every remanent of our old “Christ and” selves, and putting on every yet-missing aspect of our new “Christ over all” selves (3:1-17).  We’ll see that it means doing everything in the name of Jesus (3:17).  We’ll see that it means ordering our households according to God’s design (3:18-4:1).  And we’ll see that it means continuing steadfastly in prayerful recognition that Jesus is our hope and glory (4:2).

                          The result of putting away “Christ and” thinking is “Christ in and over everything” thinking.  It is seeing the goodness and rightness of living every moment of every day, in every relationship, and in every place for Christ, according to His design, in His power, for His glory.  

                          Conclusion

                          Like the Colossians 2000 years ago, we are continually confronted with the temptation to add to Jesus or to treat Jesus as merely one of the many things in our lives.  This mindset is not only mistaken, it is eternally deadly.  The remedy is not to try harder, do more, or be better.  The only remedy is growing in the grace of God that allows us to see that Jesus really is over all, in every way, for all time.  It is seeing Jesus for who He really is; preeminent, supreme, and infinitely glorious.  Letting go of the “ands” in our life feels like a scary loss, but that is only because of the conspiracy of sin to make things seem as they are not.  Paul pleads with the Colossians and I plead with you all to recognize that letting go of our “ands” (whatever they may be) to fully embrace Jesus, is like letting go of a glass shard in your eye for a vacation at the sea.  It’s like letting go of a mountain of credit card debt for an unlimited bank account.  It is like letting go of cancer for perfect health.  May the Lord be pleased to use our time in Colossians to make this ever-clearer and to transform us ever-more in light of it.  Let’s go!

                          55 min
                        2. Whom Will You Serve?

                          Exodus 5:1-23

                          1 Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’” 2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.” 3 Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.” 4 But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens.” 5 And Pharaoh said, “Behold, the people of the land are now many,[a] and you make them rest from their burdens!” 6 The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen, 7 “You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8 But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.’ 9 Let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words.”

                          10 So the taskmasters and the foremen of the people went out and said to the people, “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘I will not give you straw. 11 Go and get your straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced in the least.’” 12 So the people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. 13 The taskmasters were urgent, saying, “Complete your work, your daily task each day, as when there was straw.” 14 And the foremen of the people of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, “Why have you not done all your task of making bricks today and yesterday, as in the past?”

                          15 Then the foremen of the people of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, “Why do you treat your servants like this? 16 No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ And behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people.” 17 But he said, “You are idle, you are idle; that is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ 18 Go now and work. No straw will be given you, but you must still deliver the same number of bricks.” 19 The foremen of the people of Israel saw that they were in trouble when they said, “You shall by no means reduce your number of bricks, your daily task each day.” 20 They met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them, as they came out from Pharaoh; 21 and they said to them, “The Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”

                          22 Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? 23 For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.”

                          At the end of Exodus chapter four, we find Moses reunited with his brother Aaron, and his people Israel, in the land of Egypt. God had been preparing Moses and Israel for the coming clash of rivals—Yahweh, the self-existent God against the Serpent-King of Egypt, who, as we will see in this chapter, is exalting himself as a god. Moses had doubted Israel would believe he had brought a message from Yahweh. But God had promised Israel would believe him and receive his message, and they had. In chapter four, we saw that obedience changes the world. In chapter five, we see their faith will be tested as they encounter adversity at the hands of a rival to God.

                          What will Israel do in the face of adversity?  God had warned Moses that He would harden Pharaoh’s heart, and there would be a confrontation between God and Pharaoh. The clash of rivals plays out in chapter five as Pharaoh shows his unwillingness to surrender his authority to the “God of the Hebrews.” The great question in this chapter is what the people of God will do when facing hardship after initially believing God’s promise to deliver them from their burdens. Whom will they serve?

                          This chapter has four sections. Verses 1-9 are what I call ‘The Clash of the Gods’—the first of many confrontations between God and hard-hearted Pharaoh. Verses 10-14 are ‘The Wrath of Pharaoh’, where he lashes out against the Israelites caught up in the great struggle. Verses 15-21 raise the question, ‘Whom Will You Serve?’ Will you believe God and seek to serve Him, or will you forsake eternal rest for worldly comforts? The final two verses are ‘Moses’ Plea to God’.

                          The Clash of Gods

                          In chapter four, verse twenty-three, God tells Moses his message to Pharaoh, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” That same word, “serve” from chapter four, is translated as “work” in chapter five. This sets up the rivalry between Yahweh and Pharaoh. The Hebrews have been serving Pharaoh in slavery, but God is now asserting His claim upon them and will have them serve Him instead.

                          The passage begins with Moses and Aaron bringing God’s message to Pharaoh. They had been warned that God would harden Pharaoh’s heart and should have known this first meeting would not go well. They stated God’s demand to Pharaoh straightforwardly. This is the first time the prophetic phrase “Thus says the Lord” appears in the Bible. The prophets will use this hundreds of times throughout Scripture. They tell Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’” (v. 1) Moses and Aaron use this phrase, as the later prophets, to convey their message is not their own, but God’s voice, conveyed through his servants. This demand that Israel offer sacrifice to Yahweh helps us see what it means to serve, or work for Him. It means to worship.

                          No natural man likes to have the demand of a higher authority, especially of the Divine, placed upon them. The first response of all men, apart from the working of the Holy Spirit, is to question the authority or even existence of God, making a claim upon them.

                          The demand itself may have surprised you, especially if you’re already familiar with the story of the exodus. God’s demand is not that Pharaoh let Moses take the Hebrews out of Egypt forever—but only that they be able to “hold a feast…in the wilderness.” Pharaoh’s response helps us to see that this demand is much greater than it may seem.

                          Pharaoh, like every unbeliever, rejects the premise of the demand: “Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice?” His response is like the Pharaoh in chapter one, “who did not know Joseph.” (Ex. 1:8) The Pharaoh of chapter one enslaved the Hebrews, preferring not to remember the way Joseph had not only saved Egypt in the face of a seven-year famine, but had also been greatly enriched and his power expanded. This current Pharaoh refused to acknowledge the authority and significance of the LORD, who was making demands of him.

                          Pharaoh recognized that God was claiming not only authority over the Israelites, but over Pharaoh himself. If you are required to obey another, you are acknowledging the legitimate claim of authority they have over you. When we pay our taxes, we are acknowledging the legitimate authority of the United States government, the Minnesota state government, and our county governments. When Christians submit to water baptism, we signify that we are slaves of Jesus Christ—He is now our Lord, and he is putting His mark upon us. For Pharaoh to release the Israelites to hold a feast in the wilderness is to acknowledge two things. First, that Pharaoh is under the authority of Yahweh, and secondly, that Israel is God’s people and not his.

                          God is forcing Pharaoh’s hand and demands that he acknowledge the authority of Yahweh. But the hard-hearted Pharaoh, like the hard-hearted unbeliever, replies, “I do not know the LORD, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.” This is not going well. Moses and Aaron were told it would not go well, but it is easy to think that they were likely bitterly disappointed.

                          Moses and Aaron have a reply ready, and it is an interesting one. They say, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.” There are more details in this second appeal. First, they say that they have met with God. This is true. Moses met God in the burning bush at the Mountain of God. They then elaborate upon the demand to go into the wilderness to hold a feast for God. This isn’t simply a Thanksgiving picnic, but a sacrifice to the Lord. Sacrifices are made to those greater than you—to those who have a claim upon you. Again, to serve God means to worship Him. 

                          Moses and Aaron revealed to Pharaoh that he is not their Lord—Yahweh is. If Pharaoh consents to let them go to offer sacrifice to Yahweh, he is implicitly acknowledging they are God’s people, not his. The final clause is also very revealing. The Israelites are God’s people, and God’s people serve and worship God. But they have not been able to worship the LORD in Moses’ lifetime. If they do not serve and worship the LORD as commanded, they know the LORD will bring further judgment upon them. They fear the LORD will fall upon them “with pestilence or with the sword.” This is a well-grounded fear as both will come upon them throughout their desert wanderings.

                          In chapter four, Moses narrowly escaped death himself after failing to circumcise his son, as the covenant required him to do. In chapter three, he had met the LORD at the burning bush that was not consumed by the fire. He heard the voice of the Lord and experienced his anger after making excuse after excuse in order not to do what the LORD had commanded him. Moses is well acquainted with the holy anger of the LORD. He knows that the LORD’s wrath will be upon Israel if they do not worship him as they ought.

                          The issue is whether the Israelites are God’s people or Pharaoh’s. They belong to whom they serve. God is at last asserting his claim upon the Israelites, and Pharaoh is counterclaiming them for himself. Whom will Israel serve? Whose people will they be?

                          Moses and Aaron rightly fear the consequences for their people if they fail to serve and worship Yahweh.  But there is an implicit threat against Pharaoh if they are not permitted to sacrifice to the Lord. In Matthew 18, Jesus warns that “whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” (Matt. 18:6) God will, in fact, “fall upon” Pharaoh and all of Egypt “with pestilence” and “the sword” when they fail to release the Israelites. Pharaoh will, in fact, be drowned in the depths of the Red Sea.

                          Pharaoh’s response makes it clear that he is causing Israel to sin by preventing them from offering sacrifice to God in the wilderness. Pharaoh’s response shows that his claim upon the Israelites is total. He asks Moses and Aaron, “Why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens.” (v.4) The LORD is seeking to give Israel rest from their burdens, but Pharaoh will not relinquish them. He is strengthening his claim on them and further burdening them.

                          Pharaoh is exerting the ungodly authority of deluded civil rulers—rulers who believe their own rule to be absolute and unrivaled. One commentator summarizes Pharaoh as “a picture of all totalitarian rulers, states, or individuals.” This is the perennial temptation of all in authority, whether it be rulers, pastors, parents, or managers. All such rulers are tyrants: ruling without the restraint of law or authority outside of themselves. Such men endorse the first half of Romans 13:1, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.” But they don’t want anyone to hear the second half of the verse, “For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” Just a few verses later, in verse four, Paul calls rulers “God’s servant for… good.” No tyrant will ever acknowledge himself to be anyone’s servant—even God’s. Nor will he allow anyone outside of himself to define what is “good.”

                          There are many such tyrants in the Bible. The Pharaoh of chapters one and two was a tyrant when he enslaved the Hebrews and later demanded that all male babies be thrown into the Nile.

                          When Balak, king of Moab, hired Balaam to curse Israel as they camped in the plains of Moab (Numbers 22), he grew angry with Balaam for blessing Israel three times. He expected Balaam to obey him, and not the LORD, who prevented Balaam from cursing Israel. Balak was a tyrant, unwilling to acknowledge authority outside of himself. 

                          King Nebuchadnezzar, of Babylon, was a tyrant when he set up a golden image and required all his officials to “fall down and worship the golden image” at the “sound of” any instrument” and “every kind of music.” (Dan. 3:1,5) Disobedience was punished by being “cast into a burning fiery furnace.” (Dan. 3:6)

                          King Herod was a tyrant when the birth of the prophesied Messiah threatened his rule, “and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under.” (Matt. 2:16)

                          The sea and land beasts of Revelation 13 are also expressions of this same tyrannical impulse to rule without restraint and act lawlessly against those who will not honor Christ above earthly rulers. History is replete with such tyrannical rulers. 

                          Every government has systems in place to restrain the impulses of such rulers, or they are themselves manifestations of that tyrannical ruler acting without restraint. Our founders sought to create a system of checks and balances that would restrain each branch of government from exercising unlawful authority. But no system of law can truly restrain the corruption of rulers when they refuse to acknowledge authority outside of themselves. 

                          All who are in authority: elders, husbands, fathers, mothers, employers, managers, civil magistrates, must remember that we are under the authority of God. Our authority is derivative, not ultimate.

                          Tyrannies are established when the law of men is enshrined over the law of God. God is the lawgiver, and our rights are derived from Him, not man-made law.

                          When I first began studying this chapter, I was surprised by the parallels to COVID that jumped off the page. I missed them five years ago. In fact, I don’t recall this passage ever being raised when discussing government mandates to close churches and limit the size of corporate worship gatherings. I don’t want to dwell on this for long, but three observations from the text are in order, given that COVID is fresh in our memory.

                          First, corporate worship is much more important than we want to believe. God created man to worship Him. It is our highest purpose in life. To Moses and Aaron, it was a matter of life and death. They feared “pestilence” and “the sword” if they tarried in going to worship God. Are we properly prioritizing worship ourselves? This isn’t a question just for those who take church attendance casually, but for all of us. Why are you here? Are you truly serving the LORD this morning in worship? Are your heart, soul, and mind all engaged in worshipping the Lord? (Matt. 22:37) 

                          Second, the threat Moses and Aaron feared regarding “pestilence” or “the sword” (v. 3) applied equally to Pharaoh, the one who prevented their worship of the LORD. It is a fearful thing to have the wrath of God hanging over you. Pharaoh did not take this threat seriously and would pay dearly for it. The authority and responsibility to lead in worship belong to the elders of the church and no one else. No one, even civil rulers, should prevent God’s people from worshipping Him. Christians are God’s people and not the state’s or anyone else’s.

                          Third, God is gracious and patient when his saints are prevented from worshipping Him. Moses and Aaron feared God’s judgment, but it was long delayed. When it came, it came not upon Israel, but upon Pharaoh and the nation of Egypt, who bore the guilt of preventing God’s people from serving Him.

                          Hopefully, we will never face anything like those years again in our lifetimes. But the church must learn its lessons from history to prepare for future challenges. We need to remember the whole counsel of God is given to us and to consider all of it when formulating doctrine and practice, not just the passages that seem to deal most directly with a situation, as Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2 did with COVID.   Much more could be said of the COVID years, but not today. Let’s return to the text.

                          Pharaoh has exalted himself to the status of a god, ruling without restraint. Tyrannical rulers are a danger to the liberty and well-being of their citizens, church members, or family members, but the true threat we must see is the danger of rival authority. The danger lies in their demand for allegiance. Like the True God, they are jealous and will not allow dual allegiances. Like the True God, they demand, “You shall have no other gods before me.” (Ex. 20:3) Pharaoh will not make any allowances for the Israelites to worship Yahweh, because he believes he is their master and they are his servants.

                          Having dismissed Yahweh’s claims upon Israel and upon himself, he announces his judgment. Not only will he not allow Israel to go into the wilderness and sacrifice to God, but he is going to punish the people for asserting their allegiance to Yahweh. “The same day, Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen, ‘You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves. But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.’” (v. 6-8)

                          The Israelites now find themselves having to meet the same output of work, but will now have to gather the straw for themselves, compounding the amount of work needed to make the same number of bricks. One commentator notes four things Pharaoh’s edict would accomplish: First, “…it was to discourage Moses and Aaron from challenging his authority as a divine master… Second, it was an effective means of alienating the people from these two leaders… Third, the Pharaoh would be able to reduce the costs of construction…” and “Fourth, the slave population would be scattered, thereby, reducing the potential military threat to Egypt.”

                          Notice the repetition of ‘burdens’ in verses four and five. This is the same word used in chapter 1, verse 11, when the Israelites were first enslaved “with heavy burdens” by the Egyptians. It was bad for them before, but Pharaoh is making it even worse!

                          The Wrath of Pharaoh (5:10-14)

                          In the second section, verses 10-14, “the taskmasters and the foremen of the people” bring the news of Pharaoh’s wrath upon the Israelites. It is easy to miss, but notice their first words, “Thus says Pharaoh.” (v.10) This is the exact phrase with which Moses and Aaron began their message to Pharaoh, in verse one, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel.” (v. 1) Pharaoh is as God to “the taskmasters and the foremen of the people.” (v. 10) This is a critical detail because it helps us to see what is at stake in this clash between God and Pharaoh. Another commentator summarizes the situation well when he writes, “YHWH, the God of the Israelites, and Pharaoh, the divine king of Egypt, are set in opposition to one another. Whereas at this stage the Israelites are under the authority of Pharaoh and must obey his every command, YHWH comes not merely to free them from such tyrannical control, but to offer himself as an alternative sovereign.”

                          Imagine reporting for a long day of slave labor, hearing your boss demand, “Go and get your straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced in the least.” (v.11) They’ve been accustomed to having straw brought to them to mix with clay to make bricks. But now they must produce the same number of bricks while gathering one of the process’s primary inputs! 

                          The demand would have seemed intolerable! The Israelites “were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw.” Have you ever worked with straw—perhaps for gardening? Each year, I put down a bale of straw on my strawberry bed. I set it down on the mulch next to the bed of strawberries and grab bunches of straw, spreading it over the whole bed, to give the strawberries a clean cushion of mulch. When I’m done, there is a remnant of small, broken pieces along with flakes of straw—this is the stubble. It is so little and difficult to gather that I just leave it there. Imagine having to carefully pick it all up and transport it to your clay pit? Imagine the frustration and tedium! 

                          Not only that, but the “foremen of the people of Israel” were beaten by their Egyptian taskmasters because they had fallen behind their brick production quota! What do you suppose they would resort to to motivate their Israelite work crews? 


                          Whom Will You Serve? (5:15-21)

                          The situation is desperate! What are the people to do? This leads us to the third section, from verse 15 to 21: “Whom Will You Serve?” The “foremen of the people of Israel” have been beaten for the lack of production from their brick-making Israelite slaves. They sought relief from Pharaoh—hoping their cries would elicit mercy. They blame Pharaoh’s “own people,” hoping that he will reduce their burden.  

                          Three times they refer to themselves as Pharaoh’s “servants” in verses 15 to 16. Here is the dilemma—whom will the people of Israel serve? Are they the LORD’s servants, or Pharaoh’s? Each is claiming the Israelites as his own, and the Israelite foremen seem to prefer Pharaoh, offering themselves to him three times. 

                          The Israelite foremen “cried to Pharaoh”. Earlier, in chapter 2:23, the people of Israel “cried out for help” … “and God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant.” But Pharaoh is a merciless god, as all false gods are. He tells them they are lazy and shifts the blame to Moses and Aaron. The contrast is stark. God has heard his people’s cry and promised salvation. Pharaoh has ignored their cry—yet the people are still serving him and appealing to him. Whose people are they? Whom will they serve?

                          Pharaoh’s plan is working. He has alienated the people from Moses and Aaron. The people are scattered and weak. There is a contagion of strife among the people. A commentator on Exodus reminds us, “God’s people must not assume that carrying out his commands will increase their own comfort.” Verse 19 states the situation very simply, “The foremen of the people of Israel saw they were in trouble.”

                          The foremen realize they are in trouble but cannot see the situation clearly. In verse 22, they call upon the LORD to judge Moses and Aaron, blaming them for their current situation. They believe God is on their side, but they don’t sense that have already declared themselves to be on Pharaoh’s side. They cannot have it both ways! They are self-deceived—not only in trouble, but on the wrong side of God himself!

                          Moses’ Plea to the Lord (5:22-23)

                          The chapter ends with Moses’s plea to the LORD. He “turned to the LORD and said, ‘O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.”

                          Moses seems to believe his mission has failed. He came to Egypt and delivered God’s message to Israel and to Pharaoh. But it has only brought calamity upon the people. There has been no deliverance at all. One commentator states the situation well. He writes, “God’s timing only sometimes coincides with our expectations, and his idea of the hardships we need to go through only sometimes coincides with our idea of how much we can take.”

                          We have all probably felt that way, haven’t we? We pray and wait. We groan and labor in prayer. And we see nothing happening. God seems silent and far off. We think we cannot wait any longer. It is hard to remember what is true in such times. It is difficult to remember “that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Rom. 8:28) Those words seem so trite. We want to believe that is true, but when you’re suffering or watching others suffer, it doesn’t seem to be enough.

                          In Moses’s frustration, he does turn to the LORD. This is the opposite of what we see the “foremen of the people of Israel” do in verse 15. They cry out to Pharaoh and call themselves his servants three times. But Moses turns to the LORD. He turns to the LORD in prayer. He prays with frustration, yes. But he prays with expectation. He knows the LORD will hear him, and he believes he will act. His prayer is a prayer of faith.

                          If you look ahead to chapter six, you’ll notice that the LORD does not rebuke Moses in any way. Instead, he reminds Moses of his covenant promises. We’ll save that for next time. What I want us all to feel in this moment is the story’s tension. Whom will Israel serve? I want to make it clear that neither I nor the text condemns the people for working as slaves to Pharaoh. We have no reason to believe they should have gone on a strike and refused to work for Pharaoh. That isn’t the message of the text. The focus of the text is on who the people are turning to, who they are worshipping—whose people are they? The answer seems to be that they are willing to serve whoever lightens their workload. They were willing to hear Moses’s promise of liberation from slavery. But when he fails to give it, they turn back to Pharaoh to lighten their burdens. It is Moses who stands alone, who turns to the LORD.

                          Conclusion

                          As Pastor Colin likes to ask, “So what?” What does the Israelite’s plight have to do with us? At the end of chapter four, when Moses and Aaron brought God’s message to the people, they believed and “bowed their heads and worshiped. Now that Pharaoh has rejected their plea and increased their labors, they have turned away from Moses and the LORD.

                          In the face of adversity in Egypt, Moses remained faithful to the LORD. He remembered what God had promised him and turned in expectation for the LORD to fulfill His word. The foremen of the people of Israel are the opposite. They are following the one who will make their lives easier—the one who will lighten their burden. As Pastor Dave would say, they are “unbelieving believers.” Their belief is an easy belief. It is a belief that cannot endure hardship. Moses brought good news of salvation, yet when he failed to deliver it at first, they turned back to Pharaoh, turning their backs on Moses and Aaron.

                          In Luke 14, Jesus tells his followers, “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?” (Luke 14:27-28) He is warning his followers that it will cost much to follow him. He tells them, “any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:33) Christ demands our all, and to follow Him, we must be willing to count the cost and be ready to pay it.

                          Pharaoh was not willing to surrender his authority over his Hebrew slaves. The kingdom of darkness is not willing to surrender its authority over its slaves to sin either.  Pharaoh was a symbolic head of the kingdom of sin and darkness. The true enemy is the satanic kingdom of darkness ruling over its slaves, whose oppressive burdens weigh them down. They need a Savior to liberate them from their enslavement to sin. 

                          The New Testament writers repeatedly remind their readers that they have been freed from the power of sin and darkness and are to walk in the light of Christ.

                          “So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.” (Rom. 13:12)

                          “…what fellowship has light with darkness?” (2 Cor. 6:14)

                          “…for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.” (Eph. 5:8)

                          “For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.” (1. Thess. 5:5)

                          “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” (1 John 1:5-6)

                          “…the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.” (1 John 2:8)

                          There are more. But what I want to help you see this morning is that there are only two sides in our spiritual battle. There is the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the words of Jesus, from Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” It is either Christ or the darkness. Whom will you serve? 

                          Jesus is the true Moses, freeing slaves of sin, unburdening his people, and giving them true freedom—making them citizens of a new, heavenly kingdom. We are new creatures, walking in the light and having no part in the works of darkness. 

                          The kingdom of darkness has set up many rivals to play upon our fears, worries, and weaknesses, seeking to regain our allegiance. There are false ideologies, false religions, false heroes, false saviors, false creeds, and false gods. We must sharpen our “powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” (Heb. 5:14)

                          One of the things we need most is to be reminded of what Jesus has done, who we are in Christ, and what Christ has promised for our future. We live on the other side of the cross. Jesus has already defeated the kingdom of darkness. Believer, salvation is yours. You have already been declared righteous. Light has dawned upon the world, and each day brings us closer to the fullness of Christ’s victory.

                          I ask you: when adversity comes, whom will you serve? When your marriage is struggling, what will you do? Will you follow worldly ways, looking for worldly relief? Or will you turn to the LORD, ready to acknowledge your share of the sin, ready to repent, and ready to forgive? When you have trouble with your kids, will you labor for their eternal good, or will you settle for temporary peace—risking their souls? When the lusts and desires of this world tempt you, will you surrender to them and satisfy them? Or will make no provision for the flesh, living out the freedom you have in Christ? When a rival god demands your allegiance, will you recite their creed, or will you confess Christ? Will you serve rival gods for worldly comforts, or will you turn to the LORD? Whom will you serve?

                          Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:12 “…we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Pharaoh is a type of this ruler and authority. But as Paul also writes in Colossians 2:15, God “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them” in Jesus.

                          We find ourselves in a much better position than the Israelites in Exodus 5, who must live by faith, believing that God will deliver them from Pharaoh. But we live by faith, believing God has already delivered us from the kingdom of darkness. We must daily remind ourselves of that victory and “take up the whole armor of God” that we “may be able to withstand in the evil day…and to stand firm.” (Eph. 6:13)

                          We must anticipate hardship, for it will surely come. We must entrain ourselves to remember what Jesus has done, who we are in Christ, and what He has promised for the future. Let us be like Moses, who turned to the LORD and sought Him in our hardships. So, in the words of Psalm 100, may we: 

                          “Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the LORD, he is God!  It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.”

                          38 min
                        3. Song of the Saints: Salvation Through Christ, Our Hope and Deliverer

                          Psalm 40

                          1 I waited patiently for the Lord;

                                    he inclined to me and heard my cry.
                          2  He drew me up from the pit of destruction,

                                    out of the miry bog,

                          and set my feet upon a rock,

                                    making my steps secure.
                          3  He put a new song in my mouth,

                                    a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,

                                    and put their trust in the Lord.
                          4  Blessed is the man who makes

                                    the Lord his trust,

                          who does not turn to the proud,

                                    to those who go astray after a lie!
                          5  You have multiplied, O Lord my God,

                                    your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us;

                                    none can compare with you!

                          I will proclaim and tell of them,

                                    yet they are more than can be told.
                          6  In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted,

                                    but you have given me an open ear.[a]

                          Burnt offering and sin offering

                                    you have not required.
                          7  Then I said, “Behold, I have come;

                                    in the scroll of the book it is written of me:
                          8  I delight to do your will, O my God;

                                    your law is within my heart.”
                          9  I have told the glad news of deliverance[b]

                                    in the great congregation;

                          behold, I have not restrained my lips,

                                    as you know, O Lord.
                          10  I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart;

                                    I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;

                          I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness

                                    from the great congregation.
                          11  As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain

                                    your mercy from me;

                          your steadfast love and your faithfulness will

                                    ever preserve me!
                          12  For evils have encompassed me

                                    beyond number;

                          my iniquities have overtaken me,

                                    and I cannot see;

                          they are more than the hairs of my head;

                                    my heart fails me.
                          13  Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me!

                                    O Lord, make haste to help me!
                          14  Let those be put to shame and disappointed altogether

                                    who seek to snatch away my life;

                          let those be turned back and brought to dishonor

                                    who delight in my hurt!
                          15  Let those be appalled because of their shame

                                    who say to me, “Aha, Aha!”
                          16  But may all who seek you

                                    rejoice and be glad in you;

                          may those who love your salvation

                                    say continually, “Great is the Lord!”
                          17  As for me, I am poor and needy,

                                    but the Lord takes thought for me.

                          You are my help and my deliverer;

                                    do not delay, O my God!

                          Good morning. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

                          Today, we rejoice that Jesus has come and accomplished salvation for those who believe. We have walked through the many songs of people who have been impacted by God through Jesus Christ. When we speak of songs, friends, let me remind you that these were probably not sung, but were spoken as poet expressions of joy and worship – therefore, we call them songs.

                          Songs of the Past Make Way For a Future Song

                          For Elizabeth – God did the impossible in her life, gift of a child, who would prepare the way for the Lord. She rejoiced that Jesus would come near – her own child leaping in her womb. Elizabeth had joy – not only in her pregnancy, but that God would be coming, the Messiah, and from that work of God, Elizabeth worshipped.

                          For Mary – she responded as a servant of God, trusting in His plan. Mary saw God’s grace in her life to be used by God to bring about His plans – though her life would be different than her plan – God’s plan would bring about redemption and His righteous arm would save. We see from her song a God that is faithful, that the Holy Spirit is at work, and that this season is an invitation to worship and anticipation of His second coming.

                          For Zechariah – we were reminded that in silence, God still works. He was preparing for the coming of His Son during the 400 years between Malachi and Matthew. God broke His silence to bring silence to Zechariah, and in that silence, God was preparing for the reality of Christmas – God with us. In the same way, when we feel like God is silent, He is preparing us for the reality of this season – He is with us, He is speaking through His word by His Spirit and for His glory. Worship Him with your words as Zechariah did with his first words after 9 months of silence. 

                          Though we didn’t cover this text, there was a song for the Shepherds (Luke 2:8-19) – we are reminded that Jesus came to bring peace – between God and man and through all mankind to those who trust in God. He came to announce this great news of joy for all people to the lowliest of all people – shepherds. It reminds us that God’s grace reaches to all those who are humble to receive Christ, where God’s favor rests.

                          For Simeon – he was given a promise that he would see the Messiah. He faithfully served God through his whole life because he believed in the promises of God. While he waited, he served and worshipped God. In this, Simeon was able to say he could go in peace in seeing the promise fulfilled. May we wait like Simeon, serve like Simeon, and worship like Simeon, for we have peace in our souls that God’s promises are yes and amen in Jesus.

                          All of these songs were shadows of a greater song, an incomplete understanding of the work of God, yet faithful expressions of things revealed, even while the secret things belong to God. The mystery was about to be revealed to the nations. This morning we look back, before Jesus and then will look into the future when all of God’s people are together with Jesus.

                          Psalm 40 – David Recalling Salvation

                          In Psalm 40 we find David recalling a time in his life when he needed to be rescued. He describes being stuck in a muddy pit. The pit is so high that he can’t reach the top and on his own he will never escape. But the Psalm is written in hindsight. David has cried out to God and God had saved Him and Psalm 40 describes David’s response to this incredible deliverance. Spiritually we should be able to identify with David’s situation. The Scriptures teach that we are all born in a hopeless situation, cursed by sin. But, for those who trust in God through Christ salvation is available. As we go to Psalm 40, we see how David responds to his deliverance and in many ways, it should inform the way we respond to our own salvation.

                          This is the heart of Christmas – not a baby born in a manger, but God’s only Son, the King of kings born to bring redemption, adoption, and joy-filled eternal security to fallen mankind. This gift of Jesus is offered throughout the year, as we marvel at God’s work in Christmas.

                          The Main Point is that God’s salvation rescues helpless sinners and produces a transformed life marked by praise, obedience, proclamation, and continued dependence on Him. The main takeaway, therefore, is that since God has lifted us out of the deepest pit through Christ, we should respond with joyful worship, wholehearted obedience, bold witness, and confident trust in Him as our ongoing Deliverer.

                          Let’ walk through David’s Psalm and I pray that it impacts our own response to salvation – whether you have it already and need to rejoice in your salvation through Christ or you receive it today for the first time and your hearts worships Christ purely today.

                          Praise: David Responds to God’s Deliverance with Praise (vs. 1-5) 

                          Psalm 40:1-5 “I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. 2 He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. 3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord. 4 Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust,
                          who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie! 5 You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told.”

                          David’s Prayer and Deliverance (vv. 1–2)

                          David opens this psalm with a vivid picture of desperation: “a pit of destruction… the miry bog.” It is a place too deep for him to climb out of, and the more he struggles, the deeper he sinks. This is the language of helplessness—the place where our own strength and cleverness are exhausted. But notice David’s posture: he does not curse God, he does not grow cynical, he does not resign himself to despair. Instead, David waits patiently—not with passive resignation, but with active hope. He cries out to the Lord, and in God’s perfect timing, the Lord bends down, hears him, and acts. God draws him up from the pit and places his feet on solid ground. The God who saves does not merely remove us from danger—He gives stability, direction, and renewed strength.

                          David’s Response of Praise (vv. 3–5)

                          God’s rescue does not lead David to silence; it leads him to worship. As he reflects on God’s salvation, his heart fills to overflowing. God puts a new song in his mouth (v. 3a)—a fresh expression of praise that rises out of lived experience with the living God. And David knows that his testimony will shape others: many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord (v. 3b). Praise becomes evangelism. As we speak about the God who saves, redeems, strengthens, we supernaturally want to tell others when we know that they are in that same pit we were in. David then widens the lens and considers not just this one act of deliverance, but the countless ways God has shown Himself faithful. The works and thoughts of God toward His people are so abundant, so layered with mercy and wisdom, that David says they cannot be numbered (v. 5). Words fail before the sheer magnitude of God’s saving grace. David’s praise is not a momentary emotional response—it is the only fitting reply to the God who repeatedly rescues, remembers, and redeems.

                          Posture: David Responds to God’s Deliverance with a Posture of Obedience (vs. 6-8) 

                          Psalm 40:6-8 “In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. 7 Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: 8 I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.” 

                          Praise with our lips is the right and necessary first response to God’s salvation—but it is not the only response. In these verses David shows that true gratitude naturally flows into obedience. He understands that God is not after momentary enthusiasm; He is after a transformed life. So David commits himself not only to sing about God’s goodness but to live in a way that reflects it. His praise moves from his lips into his actions. This inspires James – be hearers and doers of the word!

                          More Than Religious Conformity – David writes as a man who is living under the Law and the sacrificial system. There were sacrifices to offer, rituals to keep, feasts to observe—a whole structure of outward religious practices. And while these were ordained by God, they were never meant to replace the heart. David acknowledges how easy it is to fall into a pattern of simply checking the religious boxes, doing the right things in the right order while drifting far from God internally. But the Lord desires more than compliance; He wants devotion. “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire…” means God does not delight in empty religious performance. He desires a life fully yielded to Him—obedience rooted in love, reverence, and trust. Obedience is light as we understand that it comes because God has loved us first, redeemed us so that we would be obedient out of joyful duty and not stoic religiosity. 

                          “Written in the Scroll” – In verse 7 David speaks of what is “written in the scroll,” a reference to the covenantal responsibilities laid upon the king –  Deut. 17:18-20 “18And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, 20 that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.”

                                Every king of Israel was to copy the Law by hand and rule in faithful submission to it. David acknowledges that calling—but he goes beyond duty into delight. He does not obey begrudgingly. He says, “I delight to do Your will.” The Law of God is not a burden but a joy because it expresses the heart of the God who saved him. David’s obedience is not mechanical, not merely positional—it’s relational. This is one of the reasons David was a man after God’s own heart. David’s life springs from a heart captured by grace and eager to please the One who rescued him from the pit. Are you?

                          Proclamation: David Responds to God’s Deliverance by Proclaiming the Salvation and Character of God to Others (vs. 9-11) 

                          Psalm 40:9-11 “I have told the glad news of deliverancein the great congregation; behold, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O Lord. 10 I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation. 11 As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain your mercy from me; your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me!”

                          As David reflects on God’s rescue, silence is not an option. The experience of being lifted from the pit compels him to open his mouth. In these verses David becomes almost urgent, insistent—his language is intentionally repetitive. Over and over he says, “I have proclaimed… I have not restrained my lips… I have not hidden… I have spoken… I have not concealed.” The point is clear: those who have been delivered cannot keep quiet about the Deliverer.

                          David’s rescue becomes a testimony, and his testimony becomes ministry. He tells of God’s righteousness—how God does what is right and just; of God’s faithfulness—how God keeps His promises; of God’s salvation—how God moves toward the helpless with power and mercy; and of God’s steadfast love and truth—how God’s character is enough to sustain His people in every circumstance. David is not promoting himself; he is pointing to the God who saves.

                          And David’s proclamation is not simply for his own benefit. The deliverance he experienced is not unique to him; it is available to all who see their need and cry out to the Lord. God’s rescue is not limited, and His mercy is not scarce. If God has lifted you out of your own pit—whether of sin, despair, fear, or rebellion—who in your life needs to hear that the same salvation is offered to them? Who around you needs to be told that they need a Savior, and that this Savior stands with open arms, ready to receive all who come to Him?

                          David models a heart that has been rescued and therefore cannot remain quiet. Praise becomes posture, and posture becomes proclamation. The God who saves deserves to be known, and those who have been delivered become His messengers.

                          Prayer: David Responds to God’s Deliverance with Prayer for Further Deliverance (vs. 12-17) 

                          Psalm 40:12-17 “For evils have encompassed me beyond number; my iniquities have overtaken me, and I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head; my heart fails me. 13 Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me! O Lord, make haste to help me! 14 Let those be put to shame and disappointed altogether who seek to snatch away my life; let those be turned back and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt! 15 Let those be appalled because of their shame who say to me, “Aha, Aha!” 16 But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you;
                          may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the Lord!” 17 As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God!”

                          In verse 12 the tone of the psalm shifts noticeably. The confident praise of the first half gives way to the honest cries of a man who is again in distress. Some scholars have suggested that Psalm 40 was originally two separate psalms stitched together. But the flow of David’s experience actually argues the opposite. Life with God is rarely neat and linear; it is a cycle of rescue, praise, obedience, proclamation—and then, inevitably, new challenges that drive us back to God again. Psalm 40 reads like real life. It is the rhythm of a believer who knows what it means to be delivered and who also knows what it means to be desperate.

                          This final section is a prayer for fresh deliverance. David acknowledges his trouble with striking honesty—his sins are many, his enemies are real, and his heart fails within him (v. 12). Yet he does not spiral into despair. Why? Because he remembers. David calls to mind the God who has already drawn him up out of the pit. The God who set his feet on solid ground once is the God who can do it again. Past grace fuels present faith. David prays with confidence precisely because he has tasted the faithfulness of God in the past. “Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me; O LORD, make haste to help me” (v. 13). This is not wishful thinking—it is trust rooted in experience. David ends the Psalm where every believer must end: not with self-reliance, but with God-dependence. “I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinks upon me” (v. 17). The God who rescued him before is the God who sees him now.

                          And for us, the confidence is even greater. We have been rescued from the deepest and darkest pit imaginable—the pit of sin, death, and the righteous judgment of God. Through Christ, God has lifted us out of a destruction we could never escape on our own. If God has delivered us from that pit, from eternal separation and condemnation, then what could possibly defeat us now? What threat in your present life is stronger than the salvation accomplished at the cross? What fear can overpower the grace that has already secured your eternity? Nothing. Nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

                          Therefore we trust Him. We keep crying out to Him. And we encourage others to run to Him as well. The God who rescued David is the God who rescues us—and the God who will continue to rescue all who call on His name.

                          God’s Deliverance Puts a New Song in our Mouth

                          Just as David says that a new song was put into his mouth by God – so this is true of us. As we are saved, we rejoice and shout praise to God. This worship turns into action as we long for others to sing this song with us – the song of redemption!

                          Someday, a new song will be sung in the presence of Jesus Himself. In Revelation 5, we get a glimpse into eternity.

                          “5 Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, 4 and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”

                          6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. 8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying, 

                          “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, 10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” 11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice,

                          “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
                          and honor and glory and blessing!”

                          13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, 

                          “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”

                          14 And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.”

                          Here, we get the picture of our future. When all of God’s people are together, rejoicing in the reality that Jesus is our salvation and He is worthy. Through all the trials, joys, mystery, tears, laughter, and preserving – the LORD God Himself will bring His people around the throne of the Lamb in worship. This eternal, new song of rejoicing and worship that brings God the highest glory.

                          I can’t help but think of a quote from Richard Baxter in his book “A Saint’s Everlasting Rest” as he discusses the saint’s journey through this life – the wilderness – into the Promised Land – eternal glory. He writes:

                          “From heaven’s height the soul surveys the Promised Land. Looking back on earth, the soul views the dreary wilderness through which it passed. To stand on Mount Memory, comparing heaven with earth, fills the soul with unimaginable gratitude, and makes it exclaim: “Is this the inheritance that cost so much as the blood of Christ? No wonder! O blessed price! Is this the result of believing? Have the gales of grace blown me into such a harbor? Is this where Christ was so eager to bring me? O praise the Lord! Is this the glory of which the Scriptures spoke, and of which ministers preached so much? I see the Gospel is indeed good news! “Are all my troubles, Satan’s temptations, the world’s scorns and jeers, come to this? O vile nature, that resisted so much, and so long, such a blessing! Unworthy soul, is this the place you came to so unwillingly? Was duty tiresome? Was the world too good to lose? Could you not leave all, deny all, and suffer anything for this? Were you loathe to die to come to this? O false heart, you had almost betrayed me to eternal flames and lost me this glory! Are you not ashamed now, my soul, that you ever questioned that Love which brought you here? Are you not sorry that you ever quenched His Spirit’s prompting or misinterpreted His providence, or complained about the narrow road that brought you to such a destination? “Now you are sufficiently convinced that your blessed Redeemer was saving you, as well when he crossed your desires, as when he granted them; when he broke your heart, as when he bound it up. No thanks to you, unworthy self, for this crown; but to God be the glory forever!” To which we say, Amen.

                          Let me close with my usual question: “So What?”

                          William Booth’s Vision of the Lost:

                          William Booth once described a powerful vision in which he saw a vast, storm-tossed sea filled with people drowning—crying out, struggling, and slipping beneath the waves. In the midst of the chaos stood a great rock with a platform on it where many rescued people had gathered. Some were passionately reaching back into the water to pull others to safety, while others, though saved themselves, had grown distracted with comfort, work, or religion, forgetting the desperate cries coming from the deep. Booth’s vision confronts us with the sobering reality of a world perishing without Christ and calls us, who stand on the solid rock of salvation, to urgently and compassionately extend our hands to those still in the waters of sin and hopelessness. 

                          If we truly understand what our situation was and the length that God went to in order to save us, we shouldn’t be able to keep it to ourselves. If we are content to be silent it may be that we haven’t truly understood or experienced the salvation of God. If we believe that He can rescue, why would we want to keep that from those in need of rescue?

                          As people who have been delivered, we should have confidence in God’s ability to save. As we face new trials in life we should confidently cry out, knowing He can save. This should impact our life in the sharing of this good news of great joy that is for all people. This is what Christmas was and is about and though Christmas is over, we await the Greater Christmas when we sing praises to the Lamb, the King of kings, our Friend and Savior Jesus Christ. Soon and very soon.

                          39 min