Colossians 1:1-8

An Outline for January 27, 2002

The Holy Bible, King James Version

Colossians 1:1 through Colossians 1:8 (KJV)
^{1Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our
brother, 2To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse:
Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ.}

3We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints, 5For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; 6Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth: 7As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ; 8Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.

What we believe matters!

What we believe determines how we will behave.
We must have our theology “straight”

We DO have a theology, even if we are not prepared to admit it. Our theology is our understanding of God. It is how we wrap our minds around the concepts of God, and how He relates to us as we relate to him.
Theology will determine how we relate to others, and how we live our lives.

Sometimes our theology is difficult to understand, and even more difficult to present to the world. When we attempt to describe God, and the things of God it is difficult to get these concepts across.

Illus.

Nine year old Joey, was asked by his mother what he had learned in Sunday
school. "Well, Mom, our teacher told us how God sent Moses behind enemy lines on a
rescue mission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. When he got to the Red
Sea, he had his engineers build a pontoon bridge and all the people walked
across safely. Then he used his walkie-talkie to radio headquarters for
reinforcements. They sent bombers to blow up the bridge and all the
Israelites were saved." "Now, Joey, is that really what your teacher taught you?" his mother asked. "Well, no, Mom. But if I told it the way the teacher did, you'd never
believe it!"

Often, just like Joey, we try to change our theology or our belief system to accommodate those around us. It is imperative that we learn the attributes of God so that we won’t run into the risk of portraying God less than He is.

God is eternal.
God is omnipotent.
God is Holy.
God is loving.
The list goes on….

It is important that we believe God to be merciful instead of harsh. It is important that we believe that God is loving. These basic truths begin to shape our theology.

Colossians centers on having a “right” view of Christ, and teaches us how to live a Christian life. We face this question every day of our life. We ask ourselves what we must do in order to be good Christians.

The list is long, and varies according to your particular flavor of Christianity, but it includes things like:

You must be baptized by immersion.
You must be baptized by a priest by sprinkling.
You must not wear shorts that are higher than 2 centimeters above the knee.
You must not wear shorts at all.
You must not wear makeup.
You must attend church 8 days a week.
You must not drink.
You must not dance.
You may dance, but not on Thursday or Saturday.
You must, you must, you must…….

When we begin to compile these lists of legalistic boundaries we lose site of the truth about the Christian life, and indeed the truth about Christ Himself. The message we find in Colossians is that Christ is both supreme, and sufficient. To know Christ is to experience his power, and the radical life changing grace of God. It all centers on Christ, not us. It’s not about what WE do, but rather on what Christ does through us.

This morning we are going to focus on the power of Christ to change us. Verse six tells us that through the power of the Gospel we will understand God’s grace in all of it’s truth.

Gospel means “good news” and it is the good news of God’s grace.
Grace means “unmerited favor”.
Christ has paid the penalty for our sins, and we can be set free through him.
We can be changed forever.

Have you experienced change? What would you like to change in your life? The Gospel WILL change you if you let it.

Often we are afraid of change, but change is inevitable when we walk with the Lord.

Illus:

When the railroads were first introduced to the U.S., some folks feared that they'd be the downfall of the nation! Here's an excerpt from a letter to then President Jackson dated January 31, 1829:

As you may know, Mr. President, 'railroad' carriages are pulled at the enormous speed of 15 miles per hour by 'engines' which, in addition to endangering life and limb of passengers, roar and snort their way through the countryside, setting fire to crops, scaring the livestock and frightening women and children. The Almighty certainly never intended that people should travel at such breakneck speed.

Martin Van Buren Governor of New York

Hopefully, you are not so against change that you won’t let Christ change you.

It Changes your attitudes.

Faith begins to emerge.
We can stand by our faith.
Text says in v. 3 “we have heard of your faith”, indicating that the emergence of their faith was well known.

What is faith? Hebrews 11:1 tells us “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Faith is being persuaded that something is true and then trusting in it.
It can be strengthened.
It can be shaken.
It is based on experience.
It is not a blind leap.

We also walk in Love

Love is a characteristic of the changed life.
It is a new attitude, a new direction.
Love is vital for the believer.

John 13:34-35 tells us:

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him. (1John 2:9-11 NIV)

This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. (1 John 3:10 NIV)

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. (1 John 3:14-15 NIV)

If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. (1 John 4:20 NIV)

It would seem from these passages that love is vital, and important. Walking with Christ and loving one another are inseparable.

Illus:

I read this little anecdote the other day, and it seems to fit this morning’s discussion.

Show me a church where there is love, and I will show you a church that is a power in the community. In Chicago a few years ago a little boy attended a Sunday school I know of. When his parents moved to another part of the city the little fellow still attended the same Sunday school, although it meant a long, tiresome walk each way. A friend asked him why he went so far, and told him that there were plenty of others just as good nearer his home.

"They may be as good for others, but not for me," was his reply.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because they love a fellow over there," he replied.

If only we could make the world believe that we loved them there would be fewer empty churches, and a smaller proportion of our population who never darken a church door. Let love replace duty in our church relations, and the world will soon be evangelized.

Moody's Anecdotes, pp. 71-72.

It Transforms Your Actions

We will grow in Christ.
Salvation is a process, an ongoing process of growth.
We will learn more about our faith.
We will structure our lives to put Christ at the center.
We will become more like Christ, and will begin to act as He did.
We will not be conformed to the world.

The motor home has allowed us to put all the conveniences of home on wheels. A camper no longer needs to contend with sleeping in a sleeping bag, cooking over a fire, or hauling water from a stream. Now he can park a fully equipped home on a cement slab in the midst of a few pine trees and hook up to a water line, a sewer line and electricity. One motor home I saw recently had a satellite dish attached on top. No more bother with dirt, no more smoke from the fire, no more drudgery of walking to the stream. Now it is possible to go camping and never have to go outside. We buy a motor home with the hope of seeing new places, of getting out into the world. Yet we deck it out with the same furnishings as in our living room. Thus nothing really changes. We may drive to a new place, set ourselves in new surrounding, but the newness goes unnoticed, for we've only carried along our old setting.

The adventure of new life in Christ begins when the comfortable patterns of the old life are left behind.

David Roher.

Becoming a Christian makes us change. It changes our very being, it changes everything about us. We begin to represent the Lord of Lords, and the world will take notice.