True Christianity is Different
Colossians 1:1-14
Message #1
Today we are starting a verse-by-verse study of Colossians.
Have you ever really considered or wrestled with these questions?
1). What makes true Christianity different than every other religion, philosophy, or spiritual belief system in the world?
2). What sets true Christianity apart from every other religion, philosophy, or spiritual belief system in the world.
3). Why can we not begin to compare true Christianity with any other religion, philosophy, or spiritual belief system in the world?
The answer to all three questions is because of WHO Jesus Christ truly is and WHAT Jesus Christ has truly done.
The thing that places true Christianity in Heaven and all other philosophies and ideologies on earth is WHO Jesus Christ truly is and WHAT Jesus Christ has truly done. That is what the letter to the Colossians makes perfectly, divinely, and powerfully clear.
Jesus Christ is supremely preeminent over all of Creation. He is the only one of his Kind. And he is the only one who has the ability to redeem us to God because – he IS God. THIS is the single story of the Bible. It is the Scarlet Thread that runs from Genesis to Revelation – that Jesus Christ is God in Expression, God in Communication, and he came to do what no ideology or philosophy or religion could do – to pay for our sin, to make us righteous, to make us able to be in the presence of God.
And if Man or the enemy can remove just this one piece of the truth of the Bible, then Christianity can be lumped in with every other religious philosophy in the world. BUUUTTT, we cannot remove it because the message of the Bible is the message of redemption and salvation that centers on and hinges on and is IN and THROUGH the Person and the work of Jesus Christ.
In Colossian, God speaks through Paul to warn us that removing the supreme preeminence of Jesus Christ is removing the One on whom the entire plan of redemption and salvation hinges because the Bible says only faith in Jesus Christ can save us and redeem us to God – for eternity.
Does that give you an idea of where we are going?
Here is the entire outline of Colossians:
1). Who Jesus Christ IS and what he has DONE
2). What Christ-followers SHOULD DO in response
That is the outline for the book, and that is an awesome outline for our entire life.
The letter to the Colossians was written by Paul from house arrest in Rome to try to save the church from a philosophical belief system that emphasized higher spiritual knowledge in place of the Person and work of Jesus Christ. And we live in a culture that is swimming in similar philosophical belief systems.
The false teaching being addressed in Colossians became known (by the 2nd Century) as Gnosticism which comes from the Greek word GNOSIS, meaning “knowledge.” It was a blend of religious ritual and mysticism with the goal of attaining a higher spiritual knowledge, and most dangerously, it minimized or removed the Person and work of Jesus Christ. And again, we have plenty of these same types of spiritual philosophies in our culture today. And so, we need Colossians as much today as the church needed it in the 1st Century.
Colossians 1:1–2 (NLT)
1 This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy.
2 We are writing to God’s holy people in the city of Colosse, who are faithful brothers and sisters in Christ. May God our Father give you grace and peace.
Faithful brothers and sisters is an unusual greeting for Paul. The word “faithful” here means “steadfast, unswerving,” and so, right up front, Paul is preparing the faithful believers to be “steadfast and unswerving” in their commitment to Christ.
Colossians 1:3–5(a) (NLT)
3 We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
4 For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people,
5 which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven . . .
Notice, that their faith in Jesus and their love for God’s people is because of our confident hope in what God has reserved for us in Heaven. That is the greatest reason to keep our faith and our love strong.
And then the second half of verse 5.
Colossians 1:5(b) (NLT)
5 . . . You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News.
You have had this confident expectation since you first heard the truth of the good news of Jesus Christ. Hold on to it firmly, and don’t be duped by the philosophies of this world.
Colossians 1:6 (NLT)
6 This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace.
It is the Good News of faith in Jesus Christ that is bearing fruit and changing lives everywhere it goes. Just like it changed your life the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace.
Write Romans 1:16-17 in your margin.
Romans 1:16-17 (NLT)
16 For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes . . .
This is the “Good News” that is being attacked by the world’s philosophies of “higher spiritual knowledge.”
The only eternal, guaranteed hope that God offers is in the truth of the Good News of Jesus Christ. If there were any other way for God to give us this eternal hope, he would have done it in order to spare Jesus Christ from having to take on the sin of the world. But there was no other way to offer us eternal hope, not then and not now. The Gospel message is the truth from God about the only way sinful man can be redeemed to a holy God for eternity.
And that is why the spiritual power of darkness works so hard to remove Jesus Christ from the world’s spiritual philosophies.
Colossians 1:7–8 (NLT)
7 You learned about the Good News from Epaphras, our beloved co-worker. He is Christ’s faithful servant, and he is helping us on your behalf.
8 He has told us about the love for others that the Holy Spirit has given you. (THAT is a great compliment)
Epaphras was probably the pastor at Colosse and probably the one who brought the Gospel to them. And Epaphras went to Rome himself (an incredible journey) to bring his concerns about this false teaching to Paul. So, after hearing from Epaphras, Paul did the only two things he was able to do for this church in danger. He wrote them this letter, and he prayed for them.
Colossians 1:9 (NLT)
9 So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding.
Paul begins his defense of the truth of Jesus Christ by praying that God would give the believers complete knowledge of God’s will and true spiritual wisdom and understanding.
The Gnostics claimed they had “Special Spiritual Knowledge,” and so here Paul uses a “play on words” and says, “We ask God to give you complete knowledge.” This Greek word for knowledge is “EPIGNOSIS,” “Complete knowledge, Divine knowledge.” Instead of man-made “special knowledge,” Paul prays we would have complete, divine knowledge.
And not just complete knowledge, but complete knowledge of God’s will. And not just complete knowledge of God’s will, but with spiritual wisdom and understanding.
“Spiritual” means – “Of or by the Holy Spirit”
“Wisdom” means – “The right application of knowledge”
And so, “spiritual wisdom” is the right application of knowledge by the Holy Spirit LEADING to understanding which is the ability to comprehend the truth.
So, Paul prays we would have:
Complete knowledge of God’s will
With the right application of knowledge by the Holy Spirit
Leading to the ability to comprehend the TRUTH
That is a good prayer. We should just pray that right now.
But wait… there’s more.
Knowledge only becomes wisdom when you rightly apply it.
So, verse 10 takes that complete knowledge of God’s will and rightly applies it.
Colossians 1:10 (NLT)
10 Then (when you apply this complete knowledge) the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.
The purpose of this complete knowledge of God’s will is:
that our lives may honor and please the Lord
that our lives may produce good fruit
that we may learn to know God better and better
True knowledge of God’s will causes us to grow in these three areas, living to honor and please God, producing good fruit, and knowing God better and better.
Paul continues his petition for the church (and us) by praying we would be strengthened by God’s power.
Colossians 1:11-12(a) (NLT)
11 We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy,
12 always thanking the Father . . .
Paul knows the church at Colosse is under attack by this diminishing of the Person and work of Christ, so he prays the believers would be strengthened not with their own strength but with the glorious power of God.
The life-changing truth of the Gospel can only be accomplished by God’s glorious power.
We cannot conquer the effects of sin on our own
We cannot conquer death on our own
We cannot reach God on our own
Only God’s glorious power can do these things on our behalf.
And only God’s glorious power can strengthen us to stand for the truth of the Gospel with all the endurance, patience, joy, and thankfulness to God. God gives us his glorious power through our faith in Jesus Christ and through his life in us.
And then look closely at the next half of verse 12.
Colossians 1:12(b) (NLT)
12 . . . He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light.
God has enabled us through faith in the Person and work of Jesus Christ to share in his inheritance that belongs to all God’s people who live in the light.
What does that mean? What does that involve? To share in the inheritance that belongs to God’s people
Hebrews 1:14 = we are “heirs of salvation”
Titus 3:7 = we are “heirs of eternal life”
Galatians 3:29 = we are “heirs to the promises made to Abraham”
1 Corinthians 15 = we are “heirs of an immortal heavenly body”
1 Peter 3:7 = we are “heirs of the grace of life”
Romans 8:17 = we are “joint-heirs with Christ”
Ephesians 1:14 = The Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance
That is a small part of what it means to share in the inheritance that belongs to God’s people. The inheritance God has reserved for us is more than we could ever imagine and it comes solely through the Person and work of Jesus Christ.
And it just keeps getting better and better and better.
Colossians 1:13-14 (NLT)
13 For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son,
14 who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.
Through faith in the Person and work of Jesus Christ, God has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness, and he has transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son – Jesus. We have been transferred by God’s grace and through our faith in Christ alone OUT of the kingdom of darkness and into the eternal Kingdom of Jesus Christ, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins (verse 14 says).
We are transferred out of the kingdom of darkness and into the Kingdom of God because of one thing and one thing only. The redemption we have IN the Person of Jesus Christ! That’s what Colossians 1, verse 14 says.
Colossians 1:14 (NLT)
14 [Jesus Christ] purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.
The phrase purchased our freedom is literally “to have full redemption.”
Redemption (Easton’s Bible Dictionary) = To purchase back something that had been, lost by the payment of a ransom.
1). You were lost in your sin and prisoner in the kingdom of darkness
2). Jesus Christ purchased you back by the payment of a ransom – which was his own life.
3). And now, solely by faith in Jesus Christ – you can become a son/daughter of God and joint-heir with Jesus.
There is NO higher knowledge, NO special knowledge, and there is NO anything else that could ever do that. That is the truth of the Gospel.
Because there is no other way that can overcome the separation that our sin has caused between us and God. It is ONLY by Jesus Christ purchasing our freedom and forgiving our sins that we can live for eternity in the presence of the perfectly holy and just God.
THAT is the truth of the Gospel of forgiveness and salvation – in Jesus Christ ALONE.
Please – don’t miss it.
If you emphasize human knowledge – you will MISS God’s wisdom.
If you focus on human philosophy – you will NEVER understand God.
If you combine various spiritual viewpoints – you WILL lose sight of Jesus Christ.
Don’t miss God’s wisdom and God’s understanding.
Don’t lose sight of the supreme preeminence of Jesus Christ.
Have you ever really considered or wrestled with these questions?
1). What makes true Christianity different than every other religion, philosophy, or spiritual belief system in the world?
2). What sets true Christianity apart from every other religion, philosophy, or spiritual belief system in the world.
3). Why can we not begin to compare true Christianity with any other religion, philosophy, or spiritual belief system in the world?
The answer to all three questions is because of WHO Jesus Christ truly is and WHAT Jesus Christ has truly done.
The thing that places true Christianity in Heaven and all other philosophies and ideologies on earth is WHO Jesus Christ truly is and WHAT Jesus Christ has truly done. That is what the letter to the Colossians makes perfectly, divinely, and powerfully clear.
Jesus Christ is supremely preeminent over all of Creation. He is the only one of his Kind. And he is the only one who has the ability to redeem us to God because – he IS God. THIS is the single story of the Bible. It is the Scarlet Thread that runs from Genesis to Revelation – that Jesus Christ is God in Expression, God in Communication, and he came to do what no ideology or philosophy or religion could do – to pay for our sin, to make us righteous, to make us able to be in the presence of God.
And if Man or the enemy can remove just this one piece of the truth of the Bible, then Christianity can be lumped in with every other religious philosophy in the world. BUUUTTT, we cannot remove it because the message of the Bible is the message of redemption and salvation that centers on and hinges on and is IN and THROUGH the Person and the work of Jesus Christ.
In Colossian, God speaks through Paul to warn us that removing the supreme preeminence of Jesus Christ is removing the One on whom the entire plan of redemption and salvation hinges because the Bible says only faith in Jesus Christ can save us and redeem us to God – for eternity.
Does that give you an idea of where we are going?
Here is the entire outline of Colossians:
1). Who Jesus Christ IS and what he has DONE
2). What Christ-followers SHOULD DO in response
That is the outline for the book, and that is an awesome outline for our entire life.
The letter to the Colossians was written by Paul from house arrest in Rome to try to save the church from a philosophical belief system that emphasized higher spiritual knowledge in place of the Person and work of Jesus Christ. And we live in a culture that is swimming in similar philosophical belief systems.
The false teaching being addressed in Colossians became known (by the 2nd Century) as Gnosticism which comes from the Greek word GNOSIS, meaning “knowledge.” It was a blend of religious ritual and mysticism with the goal of attaining a higher spiritual knowledge, and most dangerously, it minimized or removed the Person and work of Jesus Christ. And again, we have plenty of these same types of spiritual philosophies in our culture today. And so, we need Colossians as much today as the church needed it in the 1st Century.
Colossians 1:1–2 (NLT)
1 This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy.
2 We are writing to God’s holy people in the city of Colosse, who are faithful brothers and sisters in Christ. May God our Father give you grace and peace.
Faithful brothers and sisters is an unusual greeting for Paul. The word “faithful” here means “steadfast, unswerving,” and so, right up front, Paul is preparing the faithful believers to be “steadfast and unswerving” in their commitment to Christ.
Colossians 1:3–5(a) (NLT)
3 We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
4 For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people,
5 which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven . . .
Notice, that their faith in Jesus and their love for God’s people is because of our confident hope in what God has reserved for us in Heaven. That is the greatest reason to keep our faith and our love strong.
And then the second half of verse 5.
Colossians 1:5(b) (NLT)
5 . . . You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News.
You have had this confident expectation since you first heard the truth of the good news of Jesus Christ. Hold on to it firmly, and don’t be duped by the philosophies of this world.
Colossians 1:6 (NLT)
6 This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace.
It is the Good News of faith in Jesus Christ that is bearing fruit and changing lives everywhere it goes. Just like it changed your life the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace.
Write Romans 1:16-17 in your margin.
Romans 1:16-17 (NLT)
16 For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes . . .
This is the “Good News” that is being attacked by the world’s philosophies of “higher spiritual knowledge.”
The only eternal, guaranteed hope that God offers is in the truth of the Good News of Jesus Christ. If there were any other way for God to give us this eternal hope, he would have done it in order to spare Jesus Christ from having to take on the sin of the world. But there was no other way to offer us eternal hope, not then and not now. The Gospel message is the truth from God about the only way sinful man can be redeemed to a holy God for eternity.
And that is why the spiritual power of darkness works so hard to remove Jesus Christ from the world’s spiritual philosophies.
Colossians 1:7–8 (NLT)
7 You learned about the Good News from Epaphras, our beloved co-worker. He is Christ’s faithful servant, and he is helping us on your behalf.
8 He has told us about the love for others that the Holy Spirit has given you. (THAT is a great compliment)
Epaphras was probably the pastor at Colosse and probably the one who brought the Gospel to them. And Epaphras went to Rome himself (an incredible journey) to bring his concerns about this false teaching to Paul. So, after hearing from Epaphras, Paul did the only two things he was able to do for this church in danger. He wrote them this letter, and he prayed for them.
Colossians 1:9 (NLT)
9 So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding.
Paul begins his defense of the truth of Jesus Christ by praying that God would give the believers complete knowledge of God’s will and true spiritual wisdom and understanding.
The Gnostics claimed they had “Special Spiritual Knowledge,” and so here Paul uses a “play on words” and says, “We ask God to give you complete knowledge.” This Greek word for knowledge is “EPIGNOSIS,” “Complete knowledge, Divine knowledge.” Instead of man-made “special knowledge,” Paul prays we would have complete, divine knowledge.
And not just complete knowledge, but complete knowledge of God’s will. And not just complete knowledge of God’s will, but with spiritual wisdom and understanding.
“Spiritual” means – “Of or by the Holy Spirit”
“Wisdom” means – “The right application of knowledge”
And so, “spiritual wisdom” is the right application of knowledge by the Holy Spirit LEADING to understanding which is the ability to comprehend the truth.
So, Paul prays we would have:
Complete knowledge of God’s will
With the right application of knowledge by the Holy Spirit
Leading to the ability to comprehend the TRUTH
That is a good prayer. We should just pray that right now.
But wait… there’s more.
Knowledge only becomes wisdom when you rightly apply it.
So, verse 10 takes that complete knowledge of God’s will and rightly applies it.
Colossians 1:10 (NLT)
10 Then (when you apply this complete knowledge) the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.
The purpose of this complete knowledge of God’s will is:
that our lives may honor and please the Lord
that our lives may produce good fruit
that we may learn to know God better and better
True knowledge of God’s will causes us to grow in these three areas, living to honor and please God, producing good fruit, and knowing God better and better.
Paul continues his petition for the church (and us) by praying we would be strengthened by God’s power.
Colossians 1:11-12(a) (NLT)
11 We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy,
12 always thanking the Father . . .
Paul knows the church at Colosse is under attack by this diminishing of the Person and work of Christ, so he prays the believers would be strengthened not with their own strength but with the glorious power of God.
The life-changing truth of the Gospel can only be accomplished by God’s glorious power.
We cannot conquer the effects of sin on our own
We cannot conquer death on our own
We cannot reach God on our own
Only God’s glorious power can do these things on our behalf.
And only God’s glorious power can strengthen us to stand for the truth of the Gospel with all the endurance, patience, joy, and thankfulness to God. God gives us his glorious power through our faith in Jesus Christ and through his life in us.
And then look closely at the next half of verse 12.
Colossians 1:12(b) (NLT)
12 . . . He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light.
God has enabled us through faith in the Person and work of Jesus Christ to share in his inheritance that belongs to all God’s people who live in the light.
What does that mean? What does that involve? To share in the inheritance that belongs to God’s people
Hebrews 1:14 = we are “heirs of salvation”
Titus 3:7 = we are “heirs of eternal life”
Galatians 3:29 = we are “heirs to the promises made to Abraham”
1 Corinthians 15 = we are “heirs of an immortal heavenly body”
1 Peter 3:7 = we are “heirs of the grace of life”
Romans 8:17 = we are “joint-heirs with Christ”
Ephesians 1:14 = The Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance
That is a small part of what it means to share in the inheritance that belongs to God’s people. The inheritance God has reserved for us is more than we could ever imagine and it comes solely through the Person and work of Jesus Christ.
And it just keeps getting better and better and better.
Colossians 1:13-14 (NLT)
13 For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son,
14 who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.
Through faith in the Person and work of Jesus Christ, God has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness, and he has transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son – Jesus. We have been transferred by God’s grace and through our faith in Christ alone OUT of the kingdom of darkness and into the eternal Kingdom of Jesus Christ, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins (verse 14 says).
We are transferred out of the kingdom of darkness and into the Kingdom of God because of one thing and one thing only. The redemption we have IN the Person of Jesus Christ! That’s what Colossians 1, verse 14 says.
Colossians 1:14 (NLT)
14 [Jesus Christ] purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.
The phrase purchased our freedom is literally “to have full redemption.”
Redemption (Easton’s Bible Dictionary) = To purchase back something that had been, lost by the payment of a ransom.
1). You were lost in your sin and prisoner in the kingdom of darkness
2). Jesus Christ purchased you back by the payment of a ransom – which was his own life.
3). And now, solely by faith in Jesus Christ – you can become a son/daughter of God and joint-heir with Jesus.
There is NO higher knowledge, NO special knowledge, and there is NO anything else that could ever do that. That is the truth of the Gospel.
Because there is no other way that can overcome the separation that our sin has caused between us and God. It is ONLY by Jesus Christ purchasing our freedom and forgiving our sins that we can live for eternity in the presence of the perfectly holy and just God.
THAT is the truth of the Gospel of forgiveness and salvation – in Jesus Christ ALONE.
Please – don’t miss it.
If you emphasize human knowledge – you will MISS God’s wisdom.
If you focus on human philosophy – you will NEVER understand God.
If you combine various spiritual viewpoints – you WILL lose sight of Jesus Christ.
Don’t miss God’s wisdom and God’s understanding.
Don’t lose sight of the supreme preeminence of Jesus Christ.