Colossians: Back to the Fundamentals
Pastor Fletcher begins our summer sermon series with Colossians 1:1-8. Discussion points: This letter from Paul is written to his disciple Epaphras and the church that Epaphras planted in Colossae, syncretism distorts the gospel with our own cultural norms, the gospel bears fruit and increases in our hearts apart from our own efforts.
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Scripture reader: [Colossians 1:1-8] Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God and Timothy, our brother, to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae, grace to you and peace from God our Father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid out for you in heaven.
Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 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 and truth, just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Preacher: All right, good morning. It's good, good to see everybody today. we're starting a new series in Colossians. We just finished up our Be the Church series. And so I'm excited to open up this book. I particularly have a soft spot in my heart for Colossians, because it was one of the very first books of the Bible that I read seriously. I don't think it's because it was particularly A strong book or like the most theological, it was just one of the shortest. And so I went for it. And it still sticks with me today.
And then when I was a youth pastor, the first time I ever pastored a church when I was 19 years old, I was a youth pastor. This is the book of the Bible that I taught first, was Colossians. And so it's a joy to get back to it. I have not taught Colossians in over 20 years. And those who I did teach Colossians to do, they do not remember it. and those sermons have been stricken from the record. They're, they're a long time. ago.
So today we get to a fresh start with Colossians. We're going to be going through this book very slowly. We like to go through passages of the Bible slowly as we walk through different books of the Bible. And with Colossians, we're going more slowly than we did with the Hebrews even. We're going to be, because it's only 4 chapters, and we're going to be looking at the Book of Colossians all the way through the summer. And so then we'll start something new in the fall. Probably Nehemiah. Don't hold me to it. We'll see what happens when the fall comes.
All right, so let's not waste any time, OK? Let's hop right into this book. It's a wonderful book. So many great truths. Today, I'm really going to be orienting us to, many of the realities of Colossians, like what is this book of the Bible? What's it doing? Who wrote it? Why are we doing it? Everything like that, as we go into the beginning of this. So let's dive right in verse one, chapter one. I'm just going to read it again and then I'll, I'll. Break down a few things.
First, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother. So the first thing you need to know about this book of the Bible, Colossians, and for some of you, you're gonna be like, Yo, I've known this for a long time. But for some of us, it might be new, if you're newer to the faith. This is a letter written from Paul, who was one of the great apostles, and When we say apostle in this situation, he identifies himself as an apostle. We're talking about, even though it uses a lowercase a, it's like capital A, Apostle.
So apostle, the word apostle in the New Testament, it means messenger. It means someone who's been sent to deliver a message. And so you can use it in a variety of different ways. But then there's an apostle proper, which is this group of men who met Jesus, who knew him, and who were the primary authors of the New Testament. And so Paul's identifying himself as an apostle proper in this situation, which means that he has a special privilege from God to plant churches and to write letters on behalf of God, speaking on behalf of God at whenever he is called to do so. And so this letter, it's written by Paul, it's written to the church in Colossae. And look, I don't know if I'm saying it correct, OK? Maybe I'll learn by the end of the, by the end of the series, how to say the names of these cities and whatnot. But I'm from the south. That's how we say it, Colossae. I'm just gonna go with it.
And he's actually writing this letter from prison, is one thing we find out. Now which prison? We're not really sure, but we do know that he's writing this from prison. Paul was a man who was acquainted with prison cells. And so if you find yourself as someone who's been acquainted with, jail cells, you are in good company, I suppose. as Paul is someone who frequented prisons, and he, usually not for doing bad things, usually for being open about his faith. as far as I know, that was the only reason he was sent to jail. But he also includes Timothy, our brother, and I love this. Timothy is the quintessential little brother of the New Testament. Paul is obviously writing this letter himself, and he just throws in Timothy, because Timothy is his little brother and happens to be with him. And so, it, I have two sons. I could see Shepherd doing something and being like, and Rowan. And then he does the whole thing. It's just. It just makes sense from a brother's standpoint. Timothy is a trusted ministry companion, and not really a co-author in the strict sense that we might think.
Verse 2, to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae, grace to you and peace from God our Father. And so Paul's writing to this church in Colossae. Now, let me tell you a little bit about Colossae. Colossae was a city. It was a major city in what we would now call Turkey, what they would then call Asia Minor. And Colossae is the city that's on a trade route. And so there's a major, think about it like a highway or an interstate running through Colossae through a lot of the time before Christ. And so Colossae grows and grows and becomes a rather diverse place, a place where people would meet from different areas, and they would trade their goods. And so it became a very important city. But a few 100 years before the time of Christ, that trade route was actually moved to another city. And so now Colossae, although it is still a major metropolitan area with many diverse people that live in that area, it has seen better days. It is now a city in decline. It is not what it used to be. But still, it's an important city.
It's a place where there's been a church planted, and Paul is writing to this church. Now here's something you also need to know, is that Paul, as far as we know, never went to the city of Colossae. It was never mentioned throughout any of the, the books, any of the chapters of Acts. Colossae was not mentioned there. And so how did this church get planted? But we learned from this passage that Paul has sent a faithful brother named Epaphras, who he has met, and he is sent to plant a church there. And so Paul spent 3 years in the city of Ephesus, which is only about 120 miles from Colossae. And during his time in Ephesus, many people met Paul, many people were saved in that time.
But one of those people that we would assume met Paul in Ephesus would be Epaphras. And Epaphras became a Christian, and he discipled, he was discipled by Paul and then sent to plant a church in his own hometown, Colossae. Which is just a great reminder that while we need to send missionaries all over the world, we live in a major city, much like Ephesus, where the nations are coming to us. We have the opportunity to. see people come to know the Lord, to train them up and to send them back to their hometowns to be gospel missionaries and to plant churches. While we still need to send Americans throughout the world, we also can send others.
You can read about this verse 7, it says, just as you learned it from Epaphras, our fellow, our beloved fellow servant, he is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the spirit. And so what you see in the book of Colossians, and I know this is a lot of background material, we're gonna get to a few other things here in a second, but what you see in the book of Colossians, and this is basically a summary of it, is Paul, he's kind of like a, a senior coach kind of situation. And he's coaching Epaphras from afar on how to pastor this church. And what you have is there's been a letter written from Epaphras to Paul. And now Paul is returning his letter back to Epaphras, but he doesn't address it to Epaphras. He addresses it to the whole church. He says, you guys need to hear me on these things. Epaphras has told me what you're dealing with. And so that's what we're reading when we read the book of Colossians.
Now Colossae, this major trade route city, incredibly diverse, diverse ethically, diverse ethnically, diverse philosophically, diverse religiously. And it seems like one of the major issues that's addressed throughout all the book of Colossians is this issue that we call syncretism. Everybody say syncretism. Syncretism is when Christianity absorbs the values, assumptions, fears and hopes of the surrounding culture. And so what syncretism does is it takes Jesus, and it adds to Jesus. But it's one of those weird math problems where anytime you add to Jesus, you actually subtract from the power of the gospel.
And so what we have with syncretism is that we have these people who are trying to add their cultural background, their religious background to the message of Jesus. You know, when I first learned about syncretism, this is something you learned about in seminary. And so I, I learned the word syncretism when I was in seminary. And I thought to myself, wow, some people are really confused. I'm so glad that I live in America where I can have the most pure form of Christianity that there is, and that there ever has been and never will be. What an American way to think about that.
As I've reflected upon the struggles of the church in Colossae, I've been confronted with many forms of our American syncretism. Was that we've syncretized other values, assumptions, fears, and hopes from our surrounding culture into our religion. Just to give you a few of ways that we've done this. If you take a little bit of the American dream. And you mix it in with the gospel, you don't get. A true biblical Christianity, what you get is a faith that becomes an excuse for success, comfort, and excess. If you take a little bit of nationalism. And you mix it with the gospel. What you get is a faith that starts confusing the Kingdom of God with the success of a specific nation or political party. If you take a little bit of modern therapeutic culture, and you mix it in with the gospel, what you get is a Christianity that confuses sin with woundedness. And eventually woundedness can overcrowd the category of sin. You start to see yourself primarily as someone who's been sinned against rather than someone who also sins and needs grace.
And finally, if you take hyperindividualism and consumerism, this is just the air that we breathe in America. It's like something we can't even see because we just live in it. If you take those and you mix it with the gospel, then you become the main character of the Bible. And the church exists to dispense spiritual goods and services for your self-actualization. Community becomes just a tool for meeting your needs. Do we see maybe a few places where syncretism might be a problem in our church and in our culture? And look, I've spent years considering syncretism now and thinking about how it might be sneaking into the church. But also what I've realized this week is that syncretism has snuck into my own life. I have a personal Fletcher syncretism that I'll tell you about in just a few minutes.
Colossians is here to remind us that Jesus is sufficient. Jesus is sufficient; to add to Jesus is to subtract from the gospel. And so what we need to do, and what Colossians is telling us, and what Paul does here in this very first chapter, as he says, let's get back to the fundamentals. Let's get back to the fundamentals.
On Tuesday nights, my middle son, Shepherd, he is in, basketball. He's like in a basketball skills clinic, OK? The kid's like 4th grade and he's already over 5 ft tall. So I'm like, all right, let's get you going. we got a, got a little Wemby going on over here. And so I signed him up for basketball, and, you know, Langs, we're known for. The word lang, by the way, actually is a Dutch word that means tall. And so, you know, we live up to that, from time to time. It does not mean athletic, as everyone knows, so. But, yeah, I signed him up for basketball and he has this, this coach in the basketball clinic, and I don't know what this guy does for a living. I don't know where he's, I don't, well, I do know where he's from. I don't know what he does for a living. I know exactly where he's from. He's from Boston, Massachusetts. There's no doubt that he's from Boston, Massachusetts.
Also, I know what his passion in life is. It is coaching elementary age boys in basketball skills. This man is all about it, all about it. I walked in the other day when I was picking him up, and he had all the boys gathered around, and he said, who here knows who Peyton Pritchard is? And so if you don't know who that is, he's like a, a, a mid-level player on the Celtics. Sorry, he's mid, OK. But mid for the NBA is really good, OK. In general, you're top 450 in the world. But he's good. He's good, but like all the little boys, you know, I know who who Peyton Pritchard is, and, they were all raising their hands and he said, let me ask you something about Peyton Pritchard. Is Peyton, can Peyton Pritchard shoot the 3 like Steph Curry? And all the kids are like, no. Some of them are like, yeah, you can. It's like liars.
Can Peyton Pritchard dribble the ball like Kyrie? OK, we're gonna get a little basketball here for a second, OK? Can Peyton Pritchard dunk the ball like Giannis? No. Is Peyton Pritchard as tall as Wemby? No. And he's like, well, let me tell you what Peyton Pritchard can do. Peyton Pritchard is in the 99.999% of the fundamentals of basketball. He can dribble, he can shoot. He does all the basic things. And that's why you need to practice your fundamentals. And then he, that's what they did. That's what they do.
And I tell you that story, because I think that a lot of us feel like we're looking for a big massive spiritual breakthrough. Like we need this new silver bullet. We need to have this worship experience. We need God to just open our eyes one day, like something big needs to happen. But friends, what Paul is getting back to. And what we realize that we need. It's just the fundamentals. We need to get back to the beginning, back to the fundamentals.
Hear what he says, verse 3. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you. Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all of the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Listen to this, he's right into this church, and he says, we always think, we always thank God when we pray for you. What does he thank God for? It's not the things that we usually think about that we might praise the church about, cause he's praising, he's praising the church in Colossae. And he's he's saying, I don't thank God, he's not like, I thank God for your amazing children's ministry. I thank God for your powerful worship experiences. I, I thank God for your overflowing budget, for your online outreach. The things that we normally would praise the church.
No, what he says is, I thank God for the faith you have in the Lord Jesus. The love you have for the saints, and the hope that you have stored up in heaven. Back to the what can be more fundamental? Faith, hope and love. The basic Christian virtues. And they are the markers. Of Christ being present in the church. If you want to know where Christ is present, look for a church with faith, hope and love. Not faith in just anything, but faith in Christ Jesus. Not love for just anyone or just a a a a spirit of love, but love for the saints.
And when he says saints, let me just, I know a lot of us came from Roman Catholic background. When he says saints, he's not talking about, you know, like Saint Mary or Saint Francis or or or Saint Christopher. He's talking, what it's this word for holy ones. And it's something that he uses as equivalent for all Christians. When you see him addressing saints in the Bible, that's just talking about Christians, your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. You have a love for your fellow Christians.
And friends, if you're not involved in a church, if you're not really involved, you know, you might, you can go on Sunday and not really have a love for all of the saints. But if you're involved in groups and you're then involved in the messiness of other people's lives, and let me tell you, let me get an amen on this one. There's some messy lives in here. And if you're not involved in the messiness of that, how can you show love? How can you have this evidence of the grace of God in your life?
And finally, he gets to hope. And he says, I'm also thankful for the hope that you have stored up in heaven, for what you have saved in heaven. And he actually says that your faith and your love, they spring from the hope. That the hope is at the center of who you are, that your hope is in heaven, and it's not just this wistful thinking of like, I hope that my team wins the World Series this year, whatever it might be. I hope that this ha. No, it's like this guarantee, this great hope, the great hope of the world in heaven. And that is where your faith and your love spring forward from the faith, the hope that you have stored up.
He says verse 5, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Continuing, of this you have heard before in the word of truth, the gospel, 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. Isn't it astonishing that Paul is writing to a church, and his assumption is that they know the gospel. He wouldn't be calling them the church, he wouldn't be writing to them if they didn't know the message of Jesus from Epaphras, but he's still taking time to talk to them about the gospel.
We often think about the gospel as the door to get into the Christian life, that you need to believe in Jesus. But then once you believe in Jesus, you need to move on to greater things. You need to work out your faith yourself. You need to mature yourself, you need to grow beyond that. But here, Paul says, look, check this out, verse 6, which is the gospel, which has come to you as indeed in the whole world, it is bearing fruit and increasing. So he says the gospel is bearing fruit and increasing across the whole world, and then he says, as it does among you. Those of you who have already trusted in Christ, the gospel is still bearing fruit and increasing. And it seems like to Paul that the way that you move forward is the same way that you came in the door, that the gospel doesn't just save you, say it doesn't just save you, it advances you. It's what matures you in the faith, that the gospel itself can bear fruit and increase inside of your heart and inside of your life.
That is a truth that you never get over. That is something that you have to continue to go back to over and over and over again. It is not just the starter to the Christian life, it is the engine of the Christian life.
I'm going to let you into my life a little bit here. obviously, I'm a pastor. This is my full-time job. I've been a pastor for the past 20 years, and. there's many wonderful things about being a pastor. I love being a pastor. I don't know much other than being a pastor. There's some difficult things about being a pastor. I love preaching, but there is a pressure that comes from writing a 30 to 40 minute talk every week for all of my peers and for really anyone to come and hear me give. That there's a pressure to it. And this is what I end up doing. I. I spend a lot of time on my sermon. I stress out about it throughout the week. There's a constant stress going on in the back of my mind. And then on Sunday afternoon, going into Monday, I live a, faith and sermon, righteousness kind of life, which means if I feel like I killed it on Sunday, I'm elated, just joy. I'm feeling high. I'm feeling good.
If I feel like I didn't do my best. Which isn't just, like, you could say it would be like a standard sermon. It, it, I, it can't be standard. It has to be up to my standards, right? If I feel like I, I didn't meet my standards, I'm down on myself. Do you see how I'm living out this sermon righteousness? Where I if I feel like I've done a good job, I'm elated. If I feel like I've done a poor job, I'm down in the dumps. I can be preaching the gospel and not applying it to my own soul. Because the gospel tells me that I'm loved and accepted, not based upon what I've done, but based upon what Christ has done. That Christ is my righteousness. I don't live a sermon based righteousness. But Christ is my righteousness, and because he's my righteousness, it keeps me from getting to too high highs and too low lows. Because I know that I'm loved despite what I have done or accomplished.
The gospel tells me that God loves me and my biggest failures and apart from my greatest accomplishments. Is that something that we need to receive today? That God loves you, apart from your greatest accomplishments, and despite your biggest failures. Back to the basics. And the basics are what matures us. How is this any different than the syncretism that I that I mentioned before? Before, I might have been saying Jesus plus the American dream, Jesus plus individualism. But here, I'm saying, Jesus, plus something else. I don't just need Jesus to be satisfied. I need Jesus plus what I deem as a successful sermon. I need Jesus plus the affirmation of those around me. And you can just kind of fill in the blank.
What is your Jesus plus? What are you trying to add to the gospel to say, now I know I'm enough. Yeah, we live in Boston or the Boston area. All of us, for the most part do, and, there's a lot of high achievers here. And one thing that I've learned from being in the Boston area is that people can look like they have their lives put together on the outside, but on the inside they are falling apart. You can be uber uber successful. And be just a nervous wreck on the inside. And so we come here together. Reminded that it doesn't matter how successful you are, that to add to Jesus is to subtract to the gospel. This is at the heart of many of our biggest struggles in life. Jesus, we don't just want Jesus, we want Jesus plus money. We don't want just Jesus, we want Jesus plus security, Jesus plus respect, Jesus plus admiration.
And friends, these are the causes of many of our deepest internal struggles, that underneath so much of our unrest is a heart searching for security, worth, or identity somewhere other than Christ. We have to go back to the fundamentals. Are you struggling today? Are you discouraged, anxious, depressed? What is your interior life saying despite your exterior life looking half put together? And maybe you step into life and you think, I'm not sure if I'm pulling this off. I'm not sure if I'm faking it well enough for those around me to know. That there really isn't anything wrong with me. I'm trying to act like that. I'm trying to act like I got it all put together. But maybe you're like, I don't know if I'm pulling that off.
And listen, friends, the message of the gospel is just as much for you today, as it is the first day you received it. Because the gospel is bearing fruit and increasing. And as you notice those things and you go back to the gospel, that is how it does its work. You need to return each and every day to the power of the one who saved you in the first day.
Tim Keller puts it like this. It's my favorite quote about the gospel, but the gospel says that I am more sinful and flawed than I ever dared believe. But I am more accepted and loved than I ever dared hope. And so this morning. I just want to give you a little bit of time to process, to process this message, to process. This reality of Jesus plus, what are you looking to to be your righteousness in addition to Christ? What are you looking to, to give your life meaning and purpose? So I'm gonna invite Jared to come and. And just kind of play a little bit as we pray and seek the Lord. And in a minute, we're going to receive a communion meal. But before we do that, I'm we're gonna try something a little different this morning. I just wanna give us some time to talk with the Lord about what we're trying to syncretize into our faith. What are we adding to Jesus?
And so I'm gonna give us a moment of silence. There's gonna be some prayer counselors in the back. If you would like someone to pray with you this morning, I encourage you to go and and receive prayer from them. We're gonna have a few moments of silence. And I'm gonna lead us in a corporate prayer. Kinda like the one we did earlier with the underlying words, and just one of of confession and of assurance in Christ at this time. And so, I'm gonna start us praying, and I'm gonna give you a few moments, before I, and then I'll bring us into this time of confession corporately.
God, we come to you this morning. And we ask that you. Open our hearts to see the ways that we've been living. In a way to bring ourselves righteousness. And God, I pray that we'd be able to come back to you. God, whatever we've been adding to the gospel for our righteousness, for our acceptance, for us accepting ourselves, for us saying that life is the good life. God help us to leave that behind and to come back to this reality. Of what Christ has done for us once again, of the love of God. And so, Father, here are our confessions today. Bring us to truth again, return us to the fundamentals, and change our lives once again.
Go ahead and confess those things to the Lord this morning. What have you been trying to add to the gospel to say, I'm not happy with just Jesus. I need Jesus plus. Do you believe that Jesus is satisfying? Have you tasted and seen that he is good? Confess those things to the Lord. If you want to turn your attention to the screen as we pray this corporate prayer together.
Father, we confess that we are. Looking for something besides Christ to save us. We look for meaning and success, security, approval, comfort, control, and achievement. We confess that we often live as though Jesus is not enough. We had other hopes, other identities, and other saviors alongside him. Forgive us for building our lives on things that cannot bear the weight of our souls. Forgive us for trying to justify ourselves through performance, appearance, knowledge, wealth, productivity, or the opinions of others. God, we confess that we're tired. Tired of pretending, tired of performing, tired of trying to prove ourselves. Remind us again of the truth of the gospel. Then in Christ, we are more sinful and flawed than we dare believe, yet more loved and accepted than we dared hope. Jesus Christ is sufficient. His grace is sufficient. His righteousness is sufficient. His love is sufficient. You are more than enough for us, Jesus. Fix our eyes on Christ alone. Amen.
As we move into this time of communion, I really want you to see this as a time of response. And so whatever the Lord would have you do, if you need to pray with someone. If you need to just drop to your knees, if you need to continue your confession, if you need to receive this assurance, if you need to just look to a, a friend next to you to pray for you, a community group leader, or whoever it might be, I encourage you to do that. And when you're ready, I encourage you to come and receive the communion meal. It can be anytime throughout this next song.
The night that he was betrayed, Christ broke his body, he broke a bread and he said, this is my body. He said, do this in remembrance of me. And he took a cup, and he said, this is my blood shed for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And so as we receive this meal, we're being reminded in a physical tangible kind of way of what Christ has done for us. And so if you're a Christian here today, the table is open. If you're not sure you know where you are with Christ, we encourage you to instead receive Jesus and then take communion with us next week. And so as we prepare our hearts to respond to God, let me encourage you to stand if you are able and pray with me one more time.
Father, we, we thank you for this meal, we thank you for this assurance of grace that we receive from Christ, that you are enough, that your body was broken for us, that your that your blood was shed on our behalf, and that through you we have enough. And Jesus, as we declare that today as we take this meal that you are enough. You are enough for me. Jesus, help us to live in that reality, to lean into that reality and to forsake all other lovers, all other loves in our heart. That promise a satisfaction that they can never deliver. And Jesus, we come to you once again, and so prepare our hearts and our souls for that. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.