He wanted the believers there to continue growing in Christ, that is, to be “radical, loving, risk-takers” for the sake of the gospel.
Yet he kept them in his prayers and was aware of the church’s reputation. Paul had never actually been to Colossae (2:1). Paul elsewhere referred to faith and love as part of the armor of God that should be worn by Christians (1 Thess. Here, “love” is not an emotion, but rather the virtue of acting for others’ good. Faith and love “spring from” or are the active result of the hope of the gospel. 3–4), and to remind them that their faith and love were rooted in the gospel of Christ (v. In today’s verses, he went on to recognize the Colossians’ faith in Christ as a key reason to thank God for them (vv. 1) writing to “faithful brothers and sisters in Christ” (v. He had already identified himself as an “apostle of Christ” (v. This is the Christ-centered faith Paul lived out and wrote about. The crucified Christ calls his people to live and die for their enemies, as he did … Jesus unleashed a movement of radical, loving, risk-takers.” Christian hope produces life-givers, not life-takers. Some forms of radical Islam may entice martyr-murderers with similar dreams, but Christian hope is the power to love, not kill.
#Kjv all things done in the dark will come to light free
When a Christian says from the heart, ‘To live is Christ and to die is gain,’ he is free to love no matter what. In “A Call for Christian Risk,” pastor and theologian John Piper discussed the life of faith as a call to courage: “When the threat of death becomes a door to paradise the final barrier to temporal risk is broken.
Pray that this truth will make a difference in how you live as a committed follower of Christ. As we study the letter to the Colossians this month, pray that the Spirit will renew your commitment to the truth of the gospel and the truth of who Jesus is.
Wright summarized the book’s overall purpose: “Writing to a young church discovering what it was like to believe in Jesus Christ and to follow him, Paul shares their sense of wonder as he encourages them to explore the treasures of the gospel and to order their lives accordingly.”įor many in our culture today-as in the culture of the Colossians-truth is considered relative: you have your truth, and I have mine. Scholars are not sure exactly which imprisonment, but scholar Douglas Moo identifies Rome as the most likely location, meaning that the book was probably written around a.d. Since it was written during one of his imprisonments (4:3, 18), it is often grouped with other “prison epistles” such as Philemon. In response, Paul, with Timothy’s assistance, wrote this epistle and sent it to Colossae (vv. He was worried enough to go on a trip to Rome to ask Paul’s advice (4:12). Planter and pastor of the Colossian church (1:7), knew the heresy threatened the purity of the gospel and the spiritual lives of believers in his congregation, probably a mix of Jews and Gentiles. We don’t know exactly what heresy, but it seems to have been a syncretistic blend of Judaism, mysticism, legalism, and paganism. Focusing on the centrality of Christ, the epistle appears to have been written to combat a heresy. Its location has been identified, but it has never been excavated. We’ll examine the evidence for His sovereignty, superiority, and glory, as well as His redemption proclaimed in the gospel and through our life in Him.Ĭolossae was a city located in the Lycus River Valley in Asia Minor (modern Turkey), about 100 miles east of Ephesus. This month we’ll study the book of Colossians and see some of the simple, profound, and powerful truths about Jesus. Simple, yet it will take eternity for us to worship Christ. “Jesus, name above all names / Beautiful Savior, glorious Lord / Emmanuel, God is with us / Blessed Redeemer, Living Word.” The words of this classic chorus by Naida Hearn are simply a list of names for Jesus.
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