Beloved congregation in the Lord Jesus Christ, this epistle to the Colossians, the church in Colossae, written by the Apostle Paul, probably about 60 or 61 AD. is a result of the evangelism of Epaphras. So, Epaphras was in Ephesus, probably in the early 50s, and heard the preaching of the Apostle Paul, and the Holy Spirit did a work of regeneration into his heart. And Epaphras, being from Colossae, went back to Colossae, and he began to evangelize, and the church began there in Colossae. This is how the Lord often works, is through the evangelism of others, where He kindles an upright faith in the heart, brings them to a saving faith in Jesus Christ, and then begins a congregation, begins a church, begins people who are like-minded in the faith. This is what we find happening in the church in Colossae. And so, within the church of Colossae then, basically a young church, been 10 years now that they had been a congregation, and it's at the 10-year mark that the Apostle Paul is writing to them. He only knows about them as Paphras has made his way on a journey from Colossae to Rome to visit with the Apostle Paul to minister. And Paul at this time is under house arrest. He speaks about that in Acts chapter 28. He is under arrest by the Roman government, but it's in a house arrest. He was later released and he went to Spain. He did some other missionary work, but then he was again arrested in about 64 AD. And then subsequently he was executed by Nero. But so, Epaphras takes this journey, goes back to the Apostle Paul, and he relays to the Apostle Paul the things that were going on in the church that was there in Colossae. He talks about the good things that have happened, and Paul responds in that way. He talks about the good things going on in the congregation there in Colossae. And beloved, you always have good things that are going on in the life of a congregation. There are always some good things that are going on. But because sinful people are gathered together, you have bad things that go on in the life of the church as well. Now, if you doubt that or you question that, all you need to do is read Revelation 2 and 3 and look at the churches that were there in Asia Minor. And out of the seven churches that are addressed by the Lord Jesus Christ, five of them are said that the Lord had something against them. Two of them, Smyrna and Philadelphia, are the only two that he doesn't say anything negative about, but he says only positive about those two. That doesn't mean that there weren't negative things going on in the life of the church. Christ simply does not address those issues. It must not have been difficult highlighting things in the life of the church to be necessary to deal with. But there are times when they must be dealt with. And so, Paul is going to address problems that are going on. Syncretism. Asceticism. Worship of angels. The difficulties in the life of a congregation, when you have Jews and Gentiles, predominantly Gentiles, but Jews mixed in together, you're bound to have some doctrinal problems and collision within the life of the church. So it is with any congregation. So we look to the Lord. We look to the Lord and we recognize and we ask, we cry out, what are the things that are important that we draw lines in the sand? And what are the things that love overlooks a multitude of sins? Love overlooks particular faults and difficulties. There are some things, beloved, and if you don't have that discernment, then you're a fool, and you draw up lines of fighting about everything. And the Scripture condemns that. We are, as a people, to strive for unity. We are not to strive for division. When you have schism and division in the life of the church, that is not from the Lord. That is from the devil. How can I be more plain? Satan always brings strife into the congregation. He is always stirring up problems in the life of the church to pit people against one another and to create havoc and schism and division and difficulty and hatred and anger. And so there is no more a joy of worship and gathering as the church of Jesus Christ. Paul addresses these things. So they must be addressed. We're no different than the church of Colossae. We're no different than the churches that are spoken of in Asia Minor. We can lose our first love. Let me ask you, have you lost your first love? What's most important for you? Where is your treasure? Because where your treasure is, there and there only will your heart be also. Have we lost our first love? Have we become and grown indifferent? Have we become lethargic? Have we become people that are lukewarm? Oh, we think we're on fire. But our lives demonstrate different. Have we become divisive? Have we become gossip mongers? Are you one striving conscientiously to edify and build up or to tear down and destroy? Because Jesus said about Satan, the enemy, the thief, he comes only to kill, to maim, and to destroy. But I have come so that they might have life. So it is for the Christian. We are to promote life in the midst of the congregation. We need to know this. Paul addresses these things. And we need to hear it as well. Notice, when he begins this text, he begins immediately, after initially of addressing the congregation of who is writing and who is he addressing, he begins by giving thanks to God. This speaks volumes about our life of prayer. Instead of going to all of the list of our wants and do's and don'ts and things, we go to the Lord and we give Him thanks. What a joy, what a privilege, what a blessing that we can come to the Lord in prayer. There is so much on the heart of a Christian. There is so much junk in our hearts. And the only one that can properly deal with the things that are in our heart is the Lord Himself. And so we come, we come confessing. We come crying out to Him. We come beseeching the Lord. We come and asking the Lord to do that work within our hearts. We come giving Him thanks and praise that He does. We're thanking Him for His goodness. Eucharisteo, the Greek term there, it has being grateful. And it's in a present tense. We are constantly giving thanks to God. Now, how is your prayer life? How could it be summarized? Is it more of a lament and a cry and a complaint, or is there more of a thanksgiving to God for what He does in the life of the church? We are imperfect, beloved. I am imperfect. You are imperfect. We all are imperfect. All of us together are imperfect. We are going to have struggles in the life of the church. The striving ought to be for edification and thanksgiving for the church. Where would you go on the Lord's Day? Where would you worship? Where would you thank the Lord? We need one another. How difficult is that to understand? Your head needs a body, your body needs a head. My body needs hands and arms. Can it function without? Yes, but there are laxings, isn't there? There are problems and difficulties and things that don't get done. Because I'm missing certain limbs. The body is brought together to function in unison. That's how we worship. That's how we confess. That's how we pray. That's how we hear the Word of God. It's how we sing in unison. We move together. We move in unity as a body of Christ. When the children of Israel crossed over the Red Sea, they crossed as a body together. It's a together walk. The Lord saves us and unites us to the body. We ought to thank God for the church. We ought to thank God for individual members of the church. And Paul directs his prayer, giving thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is not a gods of the world. This is not an idol. This is not something made up in the minds of men, the figments of their imagination. It is not men creating their own idols and their gods to worship. Paul makes mention of that in 1 Corinthians 8. In the world there are many gods and many lords. What does that mean? People make up all kinds of names and gods and images and idols to worship. But for us, for the redeemed, there is one God and one Lord, Jesus Christ. So, Paul is specific in who we address. We address God our Father. The Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ. There is no other God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. One God. Three distinct persons. But He addresses the God and Father. God is from everlasting to everlasting. He is also our Father. That's an endearing term. We come to our Father. When an unbeliever goes through tragedies in his life, he cries out to God that he knows in judgment. All men know God. But he doesn't know Him as Father. You only know God as Father because you are adopted into the family of God through the intercessory work of Jesus Christ. His atoning work. We are adopted into the family of God. We have become children of God by adoption. John makes this comment in 1 John 3. What manner of love is this? That we should be called the children of the living God. It's interesting. What manner of love? It's one word in the Greek, patapos, and it means, from what realm does this come from? I know nothing of my earthly experience of this kind of love." That's how the Father loves us. The Father loves us in Christ Jesus. He sent His Son to live and die in our place. And so Paul gives thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. Notice our Lord Jesus Christ. He's the Anointed One. He is the Christos. He has been anointed with the Holy Spirit. He has been sent by the Father to be our Savior and King. The Anointed One is our Potentate. He is the One who rules over us. For us, as believers, we demonstrate that we belong to Christ by our submitting to His Word. Where the Lord directs, that is where we follow. If He does not speak it, we are to refrain from it. We are to worship Him as He has commanded in His Word, and in no other way. We are to bow to His Word. If, Jesus said, if you continue in My Word, then you are My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Jesus said, I am the Good Shepherd. My sheep hear My voice and they follow Me. There is no such thing as a Christian who does not follow Christ. You may be lagging behind because you're lazy in the Word of Truth, the means of grace. But that's the direction you're going in. But if you're not following the Word of Christ, you're not a Christian. You simply are not redeemed. The Bible knows nothing of those redeemed and go rogue, go their own way. We are mafetes, we are followers, we are disciples of Jesus Christ. Why don't you hear that much today? It's offensive to people. It's offensive to social religion. It's offensive to people that are members of the church that are not born of the Spirit of God. They don't think they have to follow Christ. They don't think they have to be in the Word. They don't think they need to cultivate the truth of God's Word. They're members of the church. They're in. They are deceived. Paul says that he is praying always for you. Always. Does that mean 24-7? Is that what you have in your mind? Paul is everywhere that he's going. He's not doing anything. He's not writing this epistle. All he's doing is praying and concentrating on those in Colossae. That's not what he means. Praying always means particular seasons of life. It is those times that it comes to mind often and throughout the day, and he prays. And it might be a short prayer. But that's what he's doing. And so it's a present tense. He is continually have them on their mind. And then he's bringing and offering prayers on their behalf to the Lord. As a congregation, do we do that? Do you, as individual members of the congregation, do you do that? Now, I have told you, I've counseled you before to do this. I have admonished you to take the directory and pray for families. You open it up, you'll find there's two sides and pray for both sides and the families that are there every day. And the next day, flip the page, you've got two more and you've got six, seven or eight families there, pray for them. And then flip the page and go through. And in a week's time, you'll have gone through the directory and prayed for every family in this congregation. And there may be things specific that you know that they are in need of, and there may be just general things that you pray for, but they are on your mind. It's hard to be angry, hard to gossip, hard to slander people that you're praying for. It's a good thing. It knits hearts together when we pray with and for one another. So Paul gives the example, praying always for you. And he began that prayer, since we heard of your faith. Now, he says we because Timothy is with him as well. Epaphras is there speaking to him, talking to him about these things. Paul is writing and addressing. And when Paul heard about this, he rejoiced. Isn't it amazing how the gospel ministry has a ripple effect? How that you can speak truth into an individual's life, and that the Holy Spirit will work in an individual's life, and they begin speaking to somebody else, and so on and so forth. The ripple effect that goes through humanity, goes through lives of people. And the next thing you know, they're showing up and you're worshiping in the same congregation. Why? That's the evangelism that goes on. That's the power of the Holy Spirit using the secondary means of the church to open its mouth and speak the truth of the gospel and call all men everywhere to repent and to believe on the only Savior, Jesus. Beloved, don't ever discount your evangelism and your influence with people in society when you're speaking the truth. And let it be an influence for good. Let it be that you speak the truth of the gospel. Let it be that you speak to people about redemption in Jesus Christ, and sin, and Satan, and hell, and the judgment to come. Speak about these things of eternal weight. None of the fluffy things that we so often, 90% of the time, are caught up in these conversations. How's the weather? Did you get the mail? I hope it's sunny tomorrow. Hope it doesn't rain. Is it gonna snow? What's the weather gonna be like next week? What are you gonna plant? What are you gonna do with that field? Blah, blah, blah. Not of chief importance. My problem with that talk, it's not unimportant, don't get me wrong, but it has no eternal verity. What you plant in the north field has absolutely no relation to my salvation. So don't talk to me about beans. Talk to me about Christ. Talk to me about my sin. Talk to me about a Savior. Talk to me about a hiding place. A refuge. A burden bearer. An atoner. One who can justify me. Talk to me about that. Talk to them about that. Do you fear? Many that name the name of Christ fear. Even though Paul told Timothy that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love and of power and of a sound mind. We have fear. What are we fearing? What do you fear? What do you fear in opening your mouth and talking about Jesus? Obviously, you fear something. What do you fear? How do you handle that fear? What do you do about that fear? Do something, beloved. Don't go on the rest of your life, I fear so I don't talk about the things of Christ, because I'm afraid what people are going to say to me or about me. And I'm afraid I don't have the answers. I don't have all the answers. I know the Scripture does. Sometimes people ask me things. I don't know. I'll look. I'll check that out. I'll get back with you on that. But I don't know the answer right off hand. Don't be afraid of that. I'm not on mission. Neither are you. But if you fear, take that fear to the Lord. Ask God, number one, to forgive you for fearing the faces of men, because we are called not to fear men who can kill the body and afterwards do nothing. Our fear is to be properly placed so that we're reverent and obedient towards God as a congregation that evangelizes a lost world with the truth. Jesus says, be afraid of the one who can kill the body and afterwards cast the soul to hell. Him you fear. The fear of God drives out the fear of men. I am convinced we don't say what we ought to say because we have too much of a fear of men and not a healthy fear of God. And that begins dictating and manipulating and driving the church to do nothing, to be silent. Silent majority. Saying nothing. Coming to the Lord in prayer. Since, Paul says, we heard of your faith. It was a great thing. For Paul, it was an exhilarating thing. He took joy in that. That somebody came to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That there was a congregation that was formed. That there were other worshipers in Colossae, worshiping the Lord. And knowing that Paul had not been there. He wasn't the one who was there in Colossae, sat down, had some tent meetings, and a revival took place. That's not what happened, beloved. He was in Ephesus, more than a hundred miles from Colossae. And you're not talking about in a day you're in a car that you can drive. This is walking. I think about how mind-boggling is it that Epaphras leaves Colossae and goes to Rome, which is about 1,200 miles in the ancient world. You don't have motorcycles, you don't have cars, you don't have modern transportation. This took weeks for him to get there. And there would be many dangers as well. Tired out all the time. You would have to have a supply of money because you would have to stop numerous times at an end, at some place, to rest, to eat. And so that makes you vulnerable then, doesn't it? To highway robbers. The Epaphras does it anyway. That's bold. He was wise, clearly, because he made it to be there with the Apostle Paul. And then relaying these things, Paul is ecstatic. This is all a result of Paul's ministry in Ephesus to Epaphras, hearing the Word and the Holy Spirit, doing the work of regeneration. And so it is. I heard of your faith. He heard it with the ears that it was told to him in Christ Jesus. Faith is not a generic thing. This is not faith in your faith. Let me be so bold to say this again. If your faith, which is subjective, is not in Christ, you are an idolater. If you have faith in faith, you're an idolater. You are under the wrath and condemnation of God. The Holy Spirit does not create faith in the heart for the Christian to look elsewhere than Jesus for salvation. The Holy Spirit creates faith in the heart for that individual who is now born of the Spirit of God, given ears to hear, to hear the Gospel, to believe the message, to embrace Christ. He abandons all hope in himself, in anyone else, or in anything else. He knows there is only one hope and His name is Jesus. We live in such a schmaltzy age, church age, where people think that they can be true believers in not believing and trusting the gospel of Jesus Christ. What are you believing? Paul rejoiced that their faith, their trust, their confidence, their believing was in Christ. They were believing this. The body of doctrine. That Christ is the Savior. That He was born in a cattle trough. He is God come in the flesh who tabernacled among us. He is the one who was born, sent by the Father, born to be the Redeemer. The burden bearer. to die. Fully God, fully man, in one person. And that He lived a perfect life, a sinless life. He had no inborn and no actual sin at all. He lived and He fulfilled all the demands of the Law of God in the place of all that were given to Him from before the foundation of the world. The elect. Those in whom the Father has elected from before the foundation of the world, them and them only, none else. He gave them to Christ. Christ then lived in their place, fulfilled what we have not fulfilled, what we could not fulfill, He fulfilled. He satisfied the justice of God. He fulfilled the covenant of law, the covenant of works. And He did so in the place of His people. Then He went to the cross, and He absorbed all of the wrath of God in the place of His people. He bore the sins of all of His people. All the sins of all those that were given to Him were imputed to Him, reckoned to Him, placed upon Him, so that He who knew no sin became sin for us. He became a curse on the cross as the imputation of all the sins of all those elect, those sheep, those given to Him, would be placed upon Christ, and He would be reckoned the chief sinner, though He had no sin. You know, beloved, this is mind-boggling. On the cross, as Christ is bearing the sin of His people, every last sin, He is loving His Father with all of His heart, soul, mind, and strength. and his neighbor as himself. When we have pain, we often lash out in anger. We have pain, we say sinful things. Christ loves the Father with all of his being because these are the stipulations for our salvation. The covenant of works must be perfectly fulfilled. And Christ does that. The space of three hours, He suffers the indescribable anguish, pains and tears. We can't even describe it. He cried out to the Father. He cries out in the garden. He cries out on the cross. Why have you forsaken me? He was forsaken so that we would never be forsaken. This is what they're believing. They believe that the Father raised the Son from the dead as a declaration that we have been redeemed and the Father has accepted the atonement of the Son. Christ is ascended as the Lord. He is the One who has come up to the Ancient of Days. He is the One who sits at the right hand of the Father. In all judgment, all power, all authority has been given unto Him. That's what they're believing. That is the good news of the Gospel. We have the Lord who sits in heaven, who is ruling and governing over all things. That is what we are believing. That is what Paul rejoices. They are believing, trusting in Jesus Christ. It's not a piecemeal. It's believing the whole of the Gospel. And Paul rejoices. And he also rejoiced, notice, in your love for all the saints. You see, when the love of God is shed abroad in the heart, when God, by the Holy Spirit, when the working of the Spirit of God, God the Holy Spirit works in our heart, and what becomes new is this. This love of God in the heart. What manner of love is this? What is it, this love, that I begin to love God? I love Christ. I love the Holy Spirit. I love the Word of God. I love the church. I love my brothers and sisters in Christ. I love my unbelieving neighbors. I began loving my enemies. That's not natural, beloved. That is supernatural. That is the supernatural love of God in the heart. You begin loving one another. And where we fall short, we need to take that to the Lord in prayer. I understand it. I get it. Is Paul saying that everybody in the congregation is lovable? No. Because that's not a reality. Some of you are hard to love. And you would say, well, you're hard to love too. Yeah, I get it. I have my times too. And so do you. Some of you are difficult to love. Some of you make it difficult to love. The apostle, when he writes in Hebrews chapter 13, he speaks about submission. And He says to submit to those who rule over you, for they watch out for your souls. Let them do so. Let them watch out for your souls with joy and not with grief. Right. Because it would be unprofitable to you. It's not good for you. It's not profitable for you to be at contention with those who are leaders, rulers in the church of Jesus Christ. That's not profitable for you. That's grief. It's problems. It's difficulty. It stirs up and engenders strife in the congregation. And you are in sin. We are to strive to love. We are to bend. We are to stretch. Peter uses it in that form. Stretching towards one another to love. You know, that's going the distance, isn't it? Let's use it in an analogy, in physical terms. If you've ever played sports and you begin to stretch out and stretch your muscles and your tendons. And let's say for this purpose analogy, you get on the floor and you spread your legs and you put your head to your knee. If you've never done that before, it's hard. You won't be able to do it in first sitting. But if you practice at it every day, you'll find that you become more flexible and limber. So where you're able to not bounce and try to get to a certain degree. No, you'll be able to touch your chin on your knee. It's amazing how you can stretch and bend. In the beginning, it hurts. And that's the love that stretches. It stretches, it's painful, but you keep at it, and you keep stretching, you keep going. And it'll get before long, it's natural, it's easy. It's easy to love, it's easy to stretch. Paul makes mention of the Colossians in this way. Your love for all the saints. God knits this love in the heart of believers. He gives us a love and a concern for one another. A desire to serve and to minister and to care for one another. The saints, those who have been called out by the Lord. The holy ones. Hagios is the Greek term. Holy in the sight of God. Why? Covered in cloth in Jesus Christ. Separated from the rest of humanity. It's interesting, when you go back to temple worship, you'll find out that articles within the tabernacle and the temple were sanctified. They were holy. In what sense? They were set apart for a particular worship and purpose. That's us, beloved. We have been set apart from the unbelieving world. We are not of the world, although we are in the world. We are not to be conformed to this world. We are to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. We have been translated from darkness into light by the working of the Spirit of God. We are holy ones. We have a purpose. What is our purpose? What is your purpose? Do you understand your purpose? Do you know why you have been called as a believer in Christ Jesus? Do you know why you have been redeemed? Do you know why you have been given faith? What is your purpose? What is your purpose in worship? Do you come, you hear a message, you walk out and you're unchanged, you do nothing with it? Or do you put your feet to your faith and you live it? You walk it. That is your life. You're demonstrating. You're emulating. You're seeing and understanding the principles and you're applying them in your life, in the lives of others. God has redeemed us and set us apart for the purpose to bring glory and honor and praise to His name and to enjoy Him forever. It is not simply to honor and obey and worship the Lord, but it's also enjoying Him. These are joyful things for the believer. It's a joy to hear the Word of the Lord. It's a joy to sing praise to His name. It's a joy to come before Him in prayer. It's a joy to fellowship. It's the chief end of man. To worship, to obey, and to rejoice in the Lord. We are those that make the kingdom of Christ evident by our life. Is that happening with us? The church in California, would they hear of our love? Would they hear about our love and our care and our concern for other saints? Are we involved in the life of the church? The broader church? Other congregations? That they're not a member of this congregation, does that mean we don't pray for them? That they're not a member of this congregation, does it mean we don't give to those who are in need? When you have the wherewithal to give? We could talk about finances and giving and what the Lord has given the things that we have, what they are to be used for. We have the American spirit of, it's all for me, and it's only about me, and amassing more and more. And it's not, beloved, about you. God has given you all things richly to enjoy, but He has also given things to you that you might share with those who have need. Need is need. And everybody has need from time to time. You could take the most wealthy person in here, and God has distinguished between us as a congregation. Even in this congregation, some have more, some have less. And those who have more have a duty, a responsibility to give to those who have less. To look out among yourselves and to be concerned. We extend, as a congregation, God has given much to us. And that means we are to look into those congregations who have need. And there are those. And we have given. We have given money, not specifically to individual, we have to individuals, but we've given money, finances, to other congregations. 10, 15, $20,000. Because a congregation was in need. And we gave to the congregation as a congregation here that the Lord has blessed. we are to share. That's what love does. This is the love of God. This is the agape love. It's not a natural love that the world speaks of, which naturally a mother has affection for their children. There's a Greek word for that. It's not agape. Agapao is a different word. Philadelphia, there's brotherly love. There's Philadelphia affection in that way. That's a natural affection. This is supernatural. This, what we would say, goes over the top. This causes us to do things that we never would do in a natural state. Loving, giving, caring, sharing, providing, serving in ways that we never thought we would do. And I tell you what, it blows people's minds when the love of God begins to rise up in your soul and you begin doing things that you never thought you would do and nobody ever thought you would do them. And the unbelieving world sits and watches with their mouth open. And that's when the catechism speaks about winning others also to Jesus Christ. Now Jesus spoke about that, didn't he? John 13. Washing one another's feet, principle of serving. This is a demonstration of the love that we have for one another. And Jesus says, and the world will recognize you as followers of Christ by the love that you have for one another. Paul rejoiced when he heard about that love. That's a love that warms, it's a love that cares, it's a love that provides. Have we lost it? Have you as an individual, As one who professes to be a Christian? Have you lost that love? Have you lost that zeal? You know, the truism about the piece of wood that falls away from the fire. Doesn't give off any heat. It's good for nothing. It's the salt that loses its savor. It's a light that's under a bushel basket. How's that good? We take those types of wood that fall from the fire and we kick them out of the way. Because somebody will trip and break an ankle over it. What needs to be done is that needs to be scooped up and thrown back into the fire. Beloved, if we've lost our zeal, we've lost our fervency to love, so that the love of Christ is spoken about, that it turns the world upside down, that's what the church ought to be doing. We need to repent. We need to come to the Lord. We need to ask the Lord. To kindle afresh. To revive us again. We've allowed ourselves to become lethargic, indifferent, lazy spiritually. Not vibrant in the life of the church. And we need to ask the Lord to forgive us. To do a work in our hearts. that he would be honored and glorified by the love that he infuses into the soul. This is what Paul rejoiced in over the saints in Colossae. Amen. Let us pray.