COLOSSIANS 1:24-2:5

Today we are continuing our study of the book of Colossians. Colossae was a city in Western Turkey that is believed to have been destroyed by an earthquake. A new cult was beginning in the Roman empire and this cult was Christianity. We are somewhere around the year 60 AD and a man named Paul is writing this new small group, sharing his thoughts on this new Christian faith and what it means for them. What do Christians believe? How are they supposed to live? It is all bring new. As I have been saying, it is really interesting to step back and read these words with this in mind. As we read this book we are hearing the words that, as the flowed through history, brought us to be sitting here today. It is all really amazing!

Today we are going to look at Colossians chapter 1 verse 24 through chapter 2 verse 5.

In the previous verses, Paul has set forth Jesus as the image of the invisible God, firstborn of all creation, creator of all things, existing before all things, the head of the church, and in him all the fullness of God dwelt. As Paul addresses the issue at hand, that this new, fragile little group of Christians is being influenced by different philosophies and religions, Paul is constantly trying to bring their attention back to the fact of who Jesus is and what Jesus has done for them. We could summarize his main point by simply saying that he is telling them to keep their focus on Christ and Christ alone.

Lets look at these few verses for a moment.

24 I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.

This verse has caused commentators some difficulty because of the phrase: “I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s suffering.” No one is too sure exactly what Paul means here. This verse, and others, were used as a basis for the selling of indulgences in the Church. We don’t have time to go into that now, but you can see how just one verse can open up so many avenues of thought. The main issue here is that there is nothing lacking in Christ’s suffering on the cross. This is said over and over again in different ways by Paul and others. So for me the sense here is that Paul, and the rest of the church, continues to suffer in this present age. When Paul has his conversion experience Jesus says: Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? And Paul says: Who are you Lord? The answer is: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” I believe this stayed with Paul his whole life and this sense of the church, as the body of Christ, means that if the church is suffering, than so also is Jesus.

25 I became its servant according to God’s commission that was given to me for you,

The apostle Paul, since the day of his conversion, was driven and motivated by his sense of a special calling and mission given to him directly by God. No one probably has worked as hard as he did. He saw himself as a servant of the church, not just as one who was a leader in the church. Paul is the leader of the church whose special calling was to bring the message of Jesus to the non Jewish world. (Gal. 2:7). Again, the fact that we sit here today, as non Jewish people, can almost singlehandedly be attributed to the work of Paul.

The commission that he had is explained in the following verses.

to make the word of God fully known, 26the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints. 27To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

In the very beginning of the Bible, in Genesis, we have a promise made to a man named Abraham, that he would be the ancestor of many nations and his descendants would be as many as the stars in the heavens. Throughout the Old Testament there is the promise that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through Israel. The early Christians, beginning with the vision of Peter, then the giving of tongues on Pentecost, and then the calling of Paul, plus other events, began to realize that the message of Jesus was for all the people of the earth, and not only that, but this also meant that they did not have to become Jewish nor keep the law of the old covenant. This does not seem so revelatory to us today, but to these early Jewish followers of Jesus, this was huge!. So amazing that Paul uses words like “the riches of the glory of this mystery.” This truth came to Paul, and to Peter, through revelation from God. They did not make it up. So he says that this truth, or mystery as he calls it, has “now been revealed.”

As a short aside, years ago I did a study on riches in the New Testament, and what I found was interesting. As we see here, when Paul talks about riches, or being rich, he always talks about what God has done in Jesus. For Paul, wealth was not material wealth, but it was the message of the love of God in Jesus. You are rich if you embrace and accept the love of God!

True riches are “Christ in you,, the hope of glory.” This verse can be interpreted in two ways as either Christ among you,, as Christ among all the people of the earth, or, as Christ in each one of the saints. Actually, both of these are true, We are rich when Christ is in us. And if Christ is in us, or among us, then we have the “hope of glory.’ Again, as I have mentioned, to these early Christians, the belief in heaven and a future life was very important. If one is going to struggle and suffer of Jesus, and there is nothing after this life.. than what is the point?

Lets read verses 28 and 29

28 It is he whom we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29For this I toil and struggle with all the energy that he powerfully inspires within me.

Notice first that Paul does not preach a religion, or a way of life, but he preaches Christ.. it is he whom we proclaim. His preaching was both warning and teaching. Another word for warning might be reminding. As we see in this letter, his preaching was to set forth Jesus as the Christ of God who through his life, death and resurrection has made a way for humanity to be reconciled to God. For Paul, and for preachers down through the ages, the power of God is found in this message. To some, it is foolishness. But to others it is the power of God. Even from the very beginning, this core message of the Christian faith was hard to believe, and early Christians wanted to add rituals and what seemed more sophisticated beliefs to the message to make it seem more advanced or humane or acceptable. The scandal of a crucified God was just as much a scandal then as it is today. But Paul keeps on directing these early Christians back to Jesus.

We see this in the following verses.

1 For I want you to know how much I am struggling for you, and for those in Laodicea, and for all who have not seen me face to face. 2I want their hearts to be encouraged and united in love, so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ himself, 3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Notice here the words “riches” and “treasures”. True riches and real treasures are to be found where? ---- in Christ. Paul continues to tell these early Christians that the key to having true wisdom and to possessing real knowledge is to find them in Christ.

This is his struggle, to keep them focused and on the right path. The word struggle here is the same word from which we get our word “agony”. As I thought about this verse I thought of parents agonizing, or struggling over their children. Any parent knows what this feels like, from the first day they drop their child off at day care or kindergarten, or see them struggle in sports or at school or relationships, or as they get older agonize over the choices they are making. In a real sense, this is the experience of any leader in the church.

Paul says that he struggle for them so that:

Their hearts would be encouraged

They would be united in love

And they would have the riches of understanding

And knowledge of God’s mystery in Christ

When you read the Bible for yourself, passages such as these can help you learn what is important for you in your Christian life. These goals have not really changed over the years. When we pastors preach or teach or lead worship we hope for the same results that the Apostle hoped for with these early Christians. We hope to see hearts encouraged in the faith, saints growing in love and unity, people gaining understanding of their faith, but above all, finding hope and life and wisdom and knowledge in Christ. Nothing has really changed.

But today, as then, there are so many distractions and things that get in the way of this happening. In the following verses we will see Paul address this challenge. We will explore this more fully in the next section, but in verse four he begins to address the issue that is concerning him and is the reason he is writing this letter.

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4 I am saying this so that no one may deceive you with plausible arguments. 5For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, and I rejoice to see your morale and the firmness of your faith in Christ.

In our present age of acceptance and pluralism the concept of “deception” or being deceived is not really very prevalent in our thinking, even in parts of the church. For many of us, the idea that there is one truth, or one way, goes against our sense of acceptance and fairness. And especially in the realm of religion, the idea that one is right and another is wrong is anathema to many. But whatever we individually believe, we cannot escape the fact that this was not what the early Christians believed. Paul warns the Colossians not to be deceived with plausible arguments. I like the KJV translation better: And this I say, lest any man beguile you with enticing words. The sense here is of a person being taken captive in their minds by the skillful words of another person.

I think it is safe to say that if the early church possessed the same attitude that many of us have today, there would be no Christian faith. What was happening in Colossae was that all sorts of different philosophies and religious practices were working their way into the minds and hearts of these first Christians. If one way or truth was just as valid as another what difference would it make what they believed or did?

We have to remember that at this point in their existence, they did not know what the Christian faith was. It was brand new. Everything was new, so how could they know what was “truth’ and what was not. Why could they not worship angels or other gods? This is the challenge that Paul and early Christian leaders faced. Their challenge was to make it as clear as possible just what the faith was. This is the whole purpose of this letter. Paul is concerned with the very survival of the Christian faith, and thus the Church.

Next week is SSP Sunday, and our sermons will be the living example of our youth. I hope that through this study of Colossians you are able to see the connection between this letter and our living faith today. Keep reading and meditating upon this book. It will be well worth your time.

AMEN!