Hello and welcome to Hackberry House and to the Word of God. Father, it's your Word. I pray you'll bless it again. In Jesus' name, Amen. Hackberry House is a website that you can access by typing into your computer MyHeartCry.net. When you do that, you'll come up with the main page, and when you get to the main page, you want to look for the library page. When you go to the library page, look for the Bible lessons that are there. in written form and find for today Unit 11 Lesson 46 which is Acts 21 and Ephesians and Colossians. Click on that, download it, print it out and you can just follow along with us with all these questions and answers that we're going to do. We're on the back of that page when you get it out and you'll see that we're on the book of Ephesians. We've already done the Acts part of that lesson in in Audio Lesson 116. We're now in Audio Lesson 117 and hoping to finish Ephesians and Colossians, Lord willing, in the next hour. Then we'll go to Philemon and Philippians and Timothy and Titus. We're on our way through the entire Bible, just about to finish it all up by the grace of God. And I might say that it has, well, how do I put this? There's been quite an array of enemy tactics to keep me from doing this. It's just one thing after another that seems to say, don't do this. But by God's grace, we will finish it. And we began a year and a half or so ago. I've even lost track of when it was. It was around January or February 2001. Does that sound right? Yeah, something in there. I want to thank God for those of you who have stayed with us the whole time. I like to hear from those people every once in a while. If you've never written to me, but you've been with me the whole time, I'd like to hear from you. Just write to MyHeartCry, I'm sorry, make it aservant at MyHeartCry.net. Or if you've just tuned in, I'd be glad to hear from you also. We don't charge anything for any of these things. We're not going to follow you up on it. I just like to know every once in a while that somebody's out there and that they're listening. I do know that because of the downloads that Sermon Audio sends me a report of once a month. So I know people are listening, but it surely is good to hear from you every once in a while. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 15 and following. We're talking about a need for spiritual wisdom. When I heard about your faith, Paul says, I've been praying for you ever since." Now, we know that he's already been in Ephesus, had a lot of trouble there, so we know this is not just hearsay, but now he's hearing about other things that's going on there, and he's really excited about it. And he wants more for them. He wants the eyes of their understanding to be enlightened, verse 18. He wants them to know the greatness of God's power toward us that believe. He wants them to know Christ. And in the following verses, verses 19-23, he talks about Jesus. Now he does this even greater in the book of Colossians coming up. He really loves Jesus and he really has a revelation of who Jesus is. The things that Jesus did. The things that God did in Jesus when he raised Jesus from the dead and set him up in the heavenly places. Way up above everything and everyone. He's going to embellish this even more. in Colossians. In verse 22, he's put all things under his feet. He's given Jesus to be head over all things to the church. The church has one head. Paul said it. I believe it. You believe it. That settles it. We don't need another head, whether he be called Pope or Pastor. Now, wait a minute. There is the office of Pastor. There is not an office of Pope in the Bible. There is a pastoral work. And the pastor's job is to feed me and you the things that are in this book. If he's feeding something else, he's not my pastor and he's not yours. But the job of the pastor is to feed the Word of God to the people. But he's not the head. He's an under-shepherd at best. And does not need to be addressed. As pastor you don't see anybody calling anybody anything here except brother, you know now they had the office They knew they were in that office, but Christ, they realized, was the pastor of the church. Christ was the head of the church. Christ was the father of the church and the teacher of the church. And to put titles in front of people's names, Jesus has told us not to do. Office, yes, because we can't deny that God has given us something to do in the body. There's no denial needed. But when somebody comes up to us and tries to pin a label on us, we need to just saying, no, I don't want to wear that title because Christ is the pastor of this church. Christ is the teacher of the body. Christ is the head. Christ is our Father in heaven. And He can lead from heaven. Oh yes, He can. He leads from heaven by sending out the Spirit. And through that Spirit, He's leading the church. And so those who are called pastors in the church need to get together and pray for the leadership of the Holy Spirit to flow through them so that they really don't become mini-popes and leaders of the church in the exclusive sense, exclusive of the grace of God. They need to find out what God is saying. Well, that's chapter 1. Chapter 2 talks about us. It switches over to us. How God's grace has come to us. How we once were dead in our sins. and how we used to walk. We used to walk in touch with the devil. That's what it says in verse 2. And the devil still has control of most of the world. And we used to have all these lusts of the flesh going through us and making us children of wrath. God had to, He had to destroy us if we had not repented. He is bound by His holiness to get rid of us. That's the rules. He made the rules and he's going to keep the rules. But there's a new rule of the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus, verse 4. God, rich in mercy, because of this great love that He had for us when we were still sinners, died for us, sent Jesus to die for us. By grace have you been saved, it says in verse 5. For by grace, verse 8, you have been saved through faith. And that not of yourselves. What's the that mean? Is that talking about your salvation or is that talking about your faith? I'm going to let you struggle with that one a while. That not of yourselves. For one thing we know, it's God doing the saving. It's nothing that we can boast about, verse 9, because we are His workmanship. We didn't work for Him. We are works of God, ourselves. And we were created for good works. Does works have anything to do with your salvation? Oh, yes. Because you are the work of God. In that sense, it does. And you will do good works after you've been saved because it's been prepared for you to do. So, you were once far away. You were once far away. But now you're near. And Christ Himself, verse 14, is the one who brought you near. He's broken down the middle wall of division between us. Between who's us? Between the Jew and the Gentile is what he's talking about here because he went back talking about circumcision again in verse 11. We are the true circumcision. There's these other people that have come in and there was a wall between us broken down the middle wall. He's abolished in his flesh the enmity, the law of commandments. us could also refer to God and man. He's broken down that wall. But he wants to reconcile both to God, verse 16. So I'm leaning toward Jew and Gentile here when it talks about us in verse 14. He wants to reconcile both Jew and Gentile to God in one body, putting to death the enmity. And he came and preached peace to you who were afar off. Who's that? You see, when he deals with these churches, he's dealing with churches that started out with a Jewish flavor to them, and Paul went to the Jews first when he could, and there were always a few Jews who came to Christ in the church. He and the whole city seemed to come around to him saying, we want this too. And the Gentiles flooded in too. And then you get these two groups in the church and sometimes they have trouble with each other. He's saying that wall's got to fall down. Jew and Gentile, you're not separated. You people that were far off, you Gentiles. And you who were near, you Jews, do you know how near the Jews were to salvation all along? Very near. They had the very presence of God. They had the power of God. They had the Word of God. They had the men of God. They had it all. They were near, but being near does not mean being saved. And they had to have the Gospel preached to them too. And notice it's the ones who were near that rejected it. And the ones who were far off that became subjects of the grace of God. In verse 18, through Him, we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Jew and Gentile, never again. We are one in Christ. Now, we all become a part of the tree called Israel, as I've said before. It's all going to be a very Jewish thing when it's all said and done. But, there's only one Spirit that's putting it all together. You're no longer strangers, you Gentiles. You're fellow citizens with the saints. And you're built right on that same foundation that the original Jews were, the foundation of the Apostles and the Prophets, the New Testament writers we're talking about. And it could be that these Prophets are the New Testament writers who are not Apostles, because not every New Testament writer is an Apostle. Mark and Luke, were they Prophets? We don't know. Luke was a historian. What was Mark? He was definitely a great disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. and later on a type of apostle. But we do know that the things that came out of the mouth and the pen of those apostles and prophets of the first century became the standard for truth. Jesus starting it all, giving it to these men, and that's been passed down to us in written form. We just don't need more revelation. It's all been settled. Who Jesus is, what he wants, and so on. And then he talks about how not only was it a foundation laid, but the whole building was built up from that. Verse 21. The whole building. You're a rock. You're a stone in that building. And so am I. You've all been built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit. So the house of God today is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ starting with these men, the apostles and prophets who laid the foundation. And then every man that's ever been built on it Throughout history, including today, it is a part of that house and it's all being built up into a beautiful place where the Holy Spirit Himself can live. And if your life and your church is not a place where Jesus is welcome to live and to enjoy Himself, you better start fixing things because you've got a serious problem. Let's go to chapter 3. Paul calls himself here the prisoner of Jesus Christ. For you Gentiles, It was because he kept going to the Gentiles that he was arrested. That's what he means here in verse 1. Have you heard, he says, of the grace of God which was given to me for you? It's because of you that I'm in this trouble. I'm not complaining, but I want you to see what God's doing for you here. He told me the mystery, verse 3. He told me all these things and I let people know about it. And I want you to read it too. What is the mystery? Verse 6, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body. He's going to say the same thing in Colossians. Christ in you, Gentiles in the whole church. The hope of glory. That's the mystery. That mystery had not been revealed. Obviously, all the Jews thought it was just for them and in a sense it was. The original call went to the Jews. Jesus came for the Jews. But all through history you'll see these little exceptions, too, even in Jesus' life. There's Gentiles being included. And now the Gentile doors wide open. We're going to preach the Gospel in all the world. And I became a minister of that. Oh, I'm not a pastor. No, he was never a pastor. Interesting. He was not a servant, a diakonos, a deacon, no. It wasn't any of those things. He's just a minister. He calls himself a slave. That's all that means. By the way, minister here is servant in the Greek. And it's deacon or diakonos in the Greek. But whenever you see that word, you can translate it servant. He says, I'm just a servant of the grace of God, a servant of this Gospel. I do what the gospel needs to be done. And here I am in jail serving you. Serving you this way. And I'm the least. I'm the least. You know, when he says that, he's not trying to be humble. He really believed it. He really believed it. When you are where you need to be, when I am where I need to be with God, I'll be able to say I'm the least and I'll mean it. Well, I ought to be able to say that because I really believe I am. How about you? Are you the least in your own eyes? Is every other believer around you just a little bit better, a little more gifted, a little more close to the Lord than you are? Is that how you feel about the Church of Jesus? Or have you pretty much exalted yourself above some of the others? He was really saying the truth when he said this. He really believed he was the least. But even though I was the least, though I went around killing Christians, he's talking about especially his life before Christ. And when he thinks back on what he was, he realizes, I have no business being in this Christian thing at all. I have no business being a leader of God's people at all. I was so wrong in what I did. But God, through His grace, has given me something wonderful to do. This mystery that's been hidden in God all this time. this mystery that's going to be made known by the church. Verse 10, to the principalities. We're announcing it to the devils and all those powers around us every time we preach Christ. They're being told. That's what it says in verse 10. Verse 11, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished, in whom we have boldness. That's why I ask you, not to lose heart at my trouble for you. It's your glory. We're doing something wonderful here. God is announcing to the demonic world that their time is limited, that Christ is about to come. I'm doing all these things for you. Don't lose heart. Don't lose heart. It's a good thing that we're doing. Verse 14, that's why I bow my knees to Jesus, to the Father of Jesus. Because it's from Jesus that the whole family of heaven and earth is named. And we're putting something together here. And I want you to know it. I want you to see it. Verse 16. I want you to be strengthened through His Spirit in the inner man. I want Christ to live in you. I don't care how many jails I have to go to. I want Christ to live in you. I want you to comprehend the width and the length and the depth and the height of the love of Jesus. I want you to know these things." And then he, in one sense, closes his book. by this doxology of verse 20 and 21, to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Jesus Christ through all ages, world without end. He moves right on. Now look at chapter 4. You're going to see in 4, 5, and 6, just like in the last half of Colossians coming up, a different tone. All of this is just the principles that are being laid down. We go from principle to practicality. Because of all these things, I, the prisoner of the Lord... Now, by the way, that's what he said in chapter 3, verse 1. I am the prisoner of the Lord. And he got off on that. He started talking about why he's the prisoner of the Lord, and it was okay, and he went a whole chapter about that. So he realizes, I've got to start over again. I, therefore, Because of all I said in chapter 3, the prisoner of the Lord beseech you to have a walk worthy of this calling. Do you realize what we've been called to, he says? The glory that's going to be revealed on this planet, do you know, do you understand? Walk worthy of it. Walk humbly, lowly. You're going to be exalted if you do this. If you walk exalted now, you're going to be put down very low. Bear with one another in love. Keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. We take that verse a long ways, don't we? It doesn't mean to tolerate evil. It doesn't mean to tolerate false teachers or teachings. No, it doesn't. But as much as you possibly can, recognize there's only one body of Jesus Christ and it's not your church and it's not my church. But that there is a body in so many of the congregations of people all over the world. I imagine there are congregations that don't have any of God's people. And I imagine there are congregations who have almost 100%. And then everything in between. We don't know, just looking at a congregation, looking at a sign outside of a church building, exactly what's going on in there. But there is one body and we've got to recognize it. And we're to keep that unity as much as possible. You need to keep in fellowship with true born-again people wherever they are. Yeah, call them to come out if they're in the wrong place, but don't disfellowship them. There's one Spirit of God, not a different Spirit in you and me. If we're saved, we have the same Spirit and we need to honor and reverence one another because of the Spirit that's in us. One hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism. I don't believe that means one We know the Bible talks about the baptism of the Holy Ghost. We know the Bible talks about water baptism. But here he's talking about one thing into which we are baptized. One formula? I don't even want to say that. That's dangerous talk. There's only one thing that we're baptized into. One God. One Father. And that's all you need to remember. Just keep that in mind. Don't let division be your way of life. Now, if they divide from you because you speak the truth, that's something else. But don't let division be your way of life. You've just always got to be dividing. You've got to do a habit, a routine of dividing and separating. Be careful with that. Even in those evil churches, some of them of the Book of Revelation, not once are they told to come out of there. They're told that you people who are there, you hold fast, stay faithful, keep my word. Separation comes when that church has become the world, as in Romanism. You come out of systems like that that are purely the world or purely demonic, as in Mormonism and things that deny who Jesus is altogether. You've got to come out from that. But in a Christian church, a truly born-again Christian church, even though it's messed up, your job is to be holy right where you are unless God tells you for sure in some other way. But to each one of us, he says, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. One person over this whole thing, but many, many, many manifestations, many gifts. Like the conquering sovereign would go in and conquer a nation, then give out gifts to everybody. To give out gifts to his new subjects, to let them know, I'm with you, we're together in this. And God has given out gifts to men. And He's given them to us. And some of those gifts are people, like the apostles. They were gifts. The prophets were gifts. The evangelists were gifts. The pastors and teachers. They're all gifts. These are people gifts. We need these people in the church. And why do we need them? Because they equip the saints for the work of ministry. because they edify the body of Christ. We need those men among us. They're not our lords. They're not captains of our salvation. They're not popes. They're not heads. But if they're doing their job, they're giving us Jesus. We need to stay close to them. Why? So we won't be tossed around, verse 14, picking up on every doctrine that comes down the pike. Listen to the men of God as they give you the Word of God and check out everything they say. Don't be argumentative. But be inquisitive. Be curious. Be careful to know you're being taught the Word of God. Ask questions. It's alright. Don't do it in public. Don't embarrass someone. But ask these questions. And then he compares the church to the human body, how it's all knit together. Every part of the human body has to have its share in the functioning of it. And so, verse 17, I want you not to walk like the Gentiles do. Oh, they just do everything that they want to do. Anything that comes into their mind, they do. You're not going to do that. You're going to let only the mind of Christ be in you. They don't understand anything. They're dark in their understanding. They don't feel anything, verse 19. But you're not like this in Christ, are you? Verse 20. You've been taught from Christ. So put some stuff off. Put it away. Put your toys away, you grown men sitting in a nursery playing with your toys. How dare you? Put your toys away. What? the things that it mentions in verse 22, that old way of life. And in place of that, renew your mind with the Spirit of God. Put on the new man. Put on the new man. Take off the old man. Now this is a dress to save people. Understand. These are not lost people. So lost people, saved people even, need to be told it's time to grow up. You're still living in some of the old stuff you lived in before. Get out of there. Get out of there. Put away your lying. Put away your anger, the kind that doesn't have a cause, verse 26. Okay, be angry if you have to be angry, but don't let it lead you into sin. Why do I have to be told all this? Well, my new man is real, but it needs nurtured by the Word. It needs nurtured by this hearing. It needs exercise, like the physical. It's not all-day exercise, but you've got to exercise it. It's necessary. It makes you strong. You've got to do these things. What are some other practical things? Stop letting corrupt stuff come out of your mouth. Things that the world says. You don't have to say these words. You know what I'm talking about. There are things that just come out of your mouth, and they're not just what we call bad words, but just things that the world has twisted around to mean something else. You don't have to talk like they do. Start talking like an adult. Start talking like Jesus would talk. Stop grieving the Holy Spirit. Get rid of the bitterness. Get rid of the wrath. Get rid of the anger. Get rid of the clamor. What's that? Clamor, it says in my footnote, is loud quarreling. Stay away from it. Put it away from you. The psychologists are giving us reasons to stay in our sins. Even Christian psychologists. You need to put them away too, by the way. They're giving us reasons for our sins. They're not valid reasons. The Bible says, put it away. That's how you get rid of those old things. Put it away. Get in Christ. Start praying. Get into your Word. You don't need the things or the ideas of this world anymore. Replace it with the love of God, verse 32. The kindness to one another. Find somebody to love. Be tenderhearted to them. Forgive, forgive. So many of our problems would just vanish if we could learn to walk in forgiveness. Now, we've gone past a lot of the questions. Let's go back to the sheet that we were on, and that's number four on the second sheet under Ephesians. What did Paul wish for the Ephesians? Wisdom, revelation, open eyes, hope, riches, and power. Number five, how many heads are there to the church? Just one. Number six, how are we saved and how are we not saved? Well, we're saved by grace. and we're not saved by works. Pretty clear. Number seven, what two groups have been made? One, the Jew and the Gentile. Number eight, describe the church's foundation. The foundation is apostles and prophets. Number nine, describe the great mystery that is now revealed. Gentiles are fellow heirs. Number ten, what would Paul's trouble and prayers bring to the Ephesians? Full comprehension of who Christ is and his love. Number 11, I think that's all. No, we did Chapter 4, didn't we? What does Paul call the Ephesians in 4, 1-7? That's unity. And 12, what are the gifts of the Spirit for? For the equipping of the saints, for ministry, for the building up of the body, for unity in teaching. Number 13, victory in the Christian life is a matter of putting off the old man and putting on the new man. Explain that. That means to walk in the Spirit. renewed by Him. It means prayer. It means the Word going into your mind, renewing it. Now we can go to chapter 5. Talking about walking in love here. Talking about putting away more things. Fornication, uncleanness, covetousness, filthiness, foolish talking, coarse jesting. There's just so much that we used to do. And He says, you're still doing some of this. Put it away. Enough said about that. You once were darkness. You're now light. So start walking as light. You've got the Holy Spirit in you. Go for it. Use what's in you already. And don't have any fellowship, verse 11, with those unfruitful works that you used to walk in. But expose them, yes? Confess your own sin. If there's a brother that's walking in this, a false person that comes into the church, he needs to be exposed. It's alright. Because it's shameful even to speak of those things that they're doing. We don't want it. Growing up in the church. Let somebody know right away. Verse 15, walking wisdom. Redeeming the time. The days are evil. Don't be unwise. There's just one thing after another here. And each one of them could be a whole sermon and has been. through the years. But these are the practical things that God wants us to walk in. Verse 19, to speak to each other in psalms and hymns and songs of the Spirit. What does that mean? Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. In your hearts. It just starts in the heart, and if it comes out the mouth, let it come out. The songs that the Holy Spirit will bring to that inner man, things that just come and flow from your mouth, whether alone or in the church, it doesn't say here. It doesn't matter. That's how we talk to each other in some cases. When we get together, especially, we do sing to each other. You notice that that's always a part of Christian meetings. It should be. That's how we talk to each other. Because when those words and those tunes go together, they stay with us and they come back to you, don't they? At times when you really need them, sometimes a song will just come back and it'll just touch your heart and you're ready to go again. Then he gives practical things for the family, wives, submit to your husbands. Why? Because this is like unto the Lord. Why? Because the husband's the head of the wife. Oh, that's not proper today. We're going to say it anyway. Just as Christ is the head of the church, you, husband, are the head of your wife. She's got to know it. She's got to live this way. I know it's not a matter of lording it over her. Not at all. But you give your life to her in love. And when you do that, you have a right to ask from her that she follow you in everything. If she doesn't, she's going to disobey to her own hurt. And you've probably already seen it happen. And you need to pray for her. That she won't hurt herself anymore. And that you'll be able to lead her without dragging her by the hair to what you want her to do. But you've got to lead her to the right things. That's your job. That's what Christ gave you to do. In Husbands, verse 25, love her as Jesus loved the church. You give your life. You get on the cross. You stay on the cross. You don't demand from her. You're a dead man. But let the Spirit of God lead that woman through you. And then he goes on talking about the church itself. And in a sense, it's us two husbands presenting to himself a glorious church, a glorious wife that's perfect in every way. That's how you're supposed to love your wife, as you love your own body. And you never hated your own body. You're supposed to put yourself last. But everybody loves themselves so much, that's why they've got to put themselves last, or they'll put themselves first. We love ourselves. We're to love our wives in that same way, because it is our body. We are one body. It's a great mystery, but it's the truth anyway. And Christ and His Church are one body also. Let's go on to the children. Obey your parents and the Lord. Why? Because it's right. Tell them that's why, because it's right. The first commandment with promise is that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth. Notice that Paul is not saying, well, the Ten Commandments are gone. He's quoting one here. They are still to obey you and in the Spirit you're to ask for that obedience from them. They still need to do that. Saved or not saved, they are still to obey you in their house, in your house. And they will live long if they learn how to obey. That's a promise from God. Bring them up in the training of the Lord. You've got to do your part. You've got to take them aside. You've got to teach them the Word of the living God. You can't leave this to chance. You've got to find out what they're up against in their world and counter it. Counter it. Let them know there's another side to everything that they're learning in their world. Teach them the truth of God. And then finally, oh, there's also servants. Not finally yet. Servants I like to call employees. Because it's hard to deal with that term today, at least in America, in the West. Servants are employees, people that are working for somebody else. They don't want to be necessarily. Be obedient to them. Do what you're told to do to serve Christ, not to serve that man or that woman. Whatever you do, remember, it's for the Lord. It's for the Lord. Masters, you better be careful. You better be careful too. You have a master that's in heaven, verse 9. And he's going to say some of the same things in all of these categories in Colossians. And then he wraps it up with all of us, all you brothers, not just individual titles anymore, but every brother. Now you all listen up. This is all for all of you. Be strong. Get your armor on. This is a battle call. We are in a battle and you're not ready, some of you. I can tell by the way you're living, Paul says, that you need to start doing battle. So let's do it. We're not wrestling against people. It's not people that are our problems. It's the devil. We need to come against the devil. We're not wrestling against flesh and blood. And you've heard that verse many times. Verse 13, take it all up, all the armor of God, so that you can withstand. Here's what you put on. You've heard this many times. Breastplate of righteousness. Not your righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ. You get saved that way. Put that on and keep it on and keep it before you. And then 15, your feet ready to preach the Gospel to anyone, anywhere. Do you have that attitude during the day? Number 16, the shield of faith. The shield of faith. The devil is going to come against you constantly, all day. You've got to have that shield up saying, nope, not me. That's not true. No, I believe this. No, I believe that. Just like Jesus did when the devil tried to come against Him. Use the Word. The shield of faith in God's Word. The helmet of salvation, verse 17. Deliverance. Your mind is delivered from some of its old ways. Ask God to deliver you, to set you free from some of those old ways of thinking. And then there's the sword of the Spirit of God, which is the Word of God. The Word of God. You've got to have it in you constantly, constantly. The faith you have in that Word. You've got to have something to believe in. And this is what you're believing in. The Word of God, verse 18. all the time and praying in the Spirit and watching all the time and praying for me. Praying for me, Paul says. Well, I'm going to send Tychicus over to you. He's a great brother. I'm going to send him over and let him know and let you know how I'm doing. Let's keep in touch. Peace to you. Grace to all those that love Jesus in sincerity. He doesn't put a blessing on people who just say, I love Jesus. but people who truly love Him. Go over to Colossians as we're going back to the question sheet just for a moment. Number 14, describe the Christ-like love that Jesus gave Himself for us. Fifteen, what's the Christian attitude toward any degree of sin or darkness where it's not to be named? It's history. No fellowship. Expose it. Sin is not allowed. 16. What is one way to keep filled with the Spirit? Through songs, public and private songs, through Thanksgiving. 17. How and why the submission of the wife? It's a picture of Christ and His Church. 18. What's the model for the male love of his spouse? Jesus loved the Church and gave Himself. 19. What reasons are given for children obeying parents? It's right, and they'll have long life. 20. How can we apply the servant-master teaching today? I call it employee-employer. 21. Since the enemy is unseen, what sort of armor and weapons do we need? We need unseen weapons, spiritual weapons. 22. Who is Tychicus? You'll see him in Colossians 2. He's a brother, a minister, a fellow servant like Timothy. Can you imagine a book of Tychicus? There could have been one if they had been separated and Paul would have written to Tychicus. Let's go to Colossians now. While the book of Ephesians focuses on the body of the church, the book of Colossians seems to focus on the head more. Note that there's a similar division of chapters. You've got the principles to begin with and then the practical things. Notice also similar teachings on the family. Colossi, the city, was about a hundred miles east of Ephesus. It's a minor town by Paul's day. The church was founded by Epaphras, who may have heard the gospel from Paul during his third preaching trip. You find that in Acts 19 and 20. These two letters and the book of Philemon were written about 60 or 61, and they were all written, remember, in a Roman prison. Paul was never in Colossae, but he heard about an approaching heresy that combined Greek, Jewish, and Oriental errors all to the exclusion of Christ. That's why the letter was written. Colossians. We have only four chapters. Let's see if we can get finished with this one. Paul. His greeting is in the first three verses. And again, he likes to start out telling them how thankful he is for them. We give thanks to God for you. And we pray always for you. Never seen you before. But we thank God for you. because of the hope that's yours. This hope, this gospel that's come to you, just like it has in all the world. And down in verse 23, he's going to talk about how this gospel was preached to every creature under heaven. Now, that's quite a stretch for me, because in Paul's day, the gospel was just beginning to go out. Now, we're talking 30 years here. And it has gone out quite a bit. The direction of the gospel, for sure, is toward all the world. And in Paul's mind, it's already done. Everybody's heard about it. And that's how it's going to be at the end of all things. This Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the earth. And Paul is saying in his day, it's already theoretically being preached there. Now, he could be talking about some of the things that God did in days past. He could be talking about some Old Testament things. He could be talking about how creation, in one sense, is a preacher of these things. I'm not sure. But twice he says that this gospel has been preached everywhere. So there was quite a significant preaching going on. We know that Asia had been reached to a great degree. The Asia of his day and the Europe of his day was now being reached by him. And it just keeps spreading and spreading. It's everywhere. And Paul's thinking it's like it's in all the world. And it's bringing forth fruit. Since the day you heard about it, it's been bringing forth fruit, just like you learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant." We're thinking that from that verse, that's how we think that Epaphras was the founder of the Church of Colossae. Verse 9, "...because of this, since we heard about this, of your faith and all that you've done, we've been praying for you." So there's his connection as a dear brother, Epaphras. But Epaphras came to him and said, you know, you need to pray for this church at Colossae. Wonderful church, but the enemies start to work there. So Paul says, since we heard about all these good things that are going on there, we've been praying for you. We see some danger coming. We want you to be filled with the knowledge of His will. We want you to be fruitful. We want you to do the will of God. We want you to know Him. We want you to have the power of the Spirit. These are the kinds of things God wants for His people today, too. He wants you to know His will, to do His will, to do the works of God, to know Him personally, to have fruit growing in your life because you know Him, and to have the power of the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit working in you, too. One, two, three, four, five things there that He wants you to have. That's all right there, buried in a book that not too many people read because we don't see all the controversy here. Not a lot of controversy, not a lot of practical things for us to get into and fight about. All these are important things that he talks about here. He says, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance and has delivered us from the power of darkness into the kingdom of his dear Son. And it's in Him this Dear Son, verse 14, that we have redemption. Now, here's where he starts talking about Jesus in ways that are very high and lofty, and we need to hear them. It's some very difficult stuff. There is controversy here, but not the common man does it. Usually the theologians are fighting over this one. Verse 15 talks about how Jesus is the image of the invisible God. When the invisible God looks into a mirror, he sees Jesus. He sees himself. And when Jesus looks into a mirror, he sees God. It's the same person. He's the firstborn over all creation. He's called the firstborn again in verse 18. Now here he's the firstborn over creation. There he's the firstborn from the dead. It means number one. The first. The first. He came out of the grave first of all those who will be saved in the church of Jesus. He's the number one. He was talking about the context of the church there in verse 18. Firstborn. First over all the creation. He wasn't created. He wasn't created. It's not saying that. He's first over all the creation. He's number one. He's the head of the creation. He's the creator. And that's what it says in verse 16. Everything was created through Him. and for him. So he is not a created being himself. He is before all things. In him all things consist. The word consist is talking about held together. If Jesus would ever just change his mind about anything on this earth, this universe would just go flying and one day it will. One day it will when his Word to this planet is finished. The Word is just going to flee away. That's what it says in Revelation. Right now it's being held together because God said, let there be. And when God said, let there be, it was. And Jesus was a part of that creation. We find in John 1.1 also. John and Paul, perfect agreement about who Jesus is. Because it pleased the Father, verse 19, that in Him, Jesus, all the fullness should dwell. The fullness. Everything that God is, is in Christ Jesus. And by Jesus, He's going to reconcile everything to Himself. You see, God wants to be accepted by His creation. His creation rejected Him. It's not fun to be rejected. Many of you, most of you, probably know this already. Well, it's definitely not fun for God who deserves acceptance to be rejected by his own creatures. But God still wanted a way for creature and Creator to become one, to be united. And God chose Jesus as the way for that to happen, it says in verse 20. You were once enemies, but now you're being reconciled. You can come on back now. That's what that's talking about. He says, that's what I was made a minister of, verse 23. And I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my flesh what's lacking in the affliction of Christ." What's that mean? Simply, I'm suffering for you. I'm suffering in a Roman prison because of you. That's all he's saying. Jesus is in his body being punished throughout the earth. There's going to be a certain amount of punishment that's given to Christ throughout the earth. There'll be some people in all ages who will not be punished, not punished but persecuted, and some who will. And there'll be some who will be bearing the burdens of others who can't bear it. Paul says, I'm bearing this for you. Now when these Colossian Christians grew up, We assume they went out and they suffered for Jesus Christ too. Most of us have lived because of the persecution and the intercession of other believers. We're safe and we're free. He's asking us to grow up, to let go of our comfort zone, and to go suffer for Jesus Christ ourselves. And may God grant us that grace to do that. We've got to go on to chapter 2. I want you to know that I've had a great conflict for you and for you in Laodicea. Now, this letter was to be given to the Laodiceans. Yes, it's the same church that's mentioned in the book of Revelation. Here, they're evidently an active and good and wholesome church, but later on they fall down. They fall down. I want your hearts and their hearts to be encouraged. I want you to be united with each other. because it's in Christ that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are together. I want you all to know that so much. I don't want somebody to come along in verse 4 and start persuading you otherwise. There's something going on in there and I realize that you're going to be under attack. I see the good things that are happening. Verse 5, even though I've never met you, I see in the Spirit wonderful things that are happening in that church. And you need to continue on, continue on, because somebody, verse 8, is going to try to cheat you through philosophy. Watch out for philosophy in the church, psychology too. Empty deceit in the church, according to the tradition of men. Men are going to come along with their ideas, combine them to the Word of God, and Jesus and His teaching are going to suffer because of it. Don't let it in. Don't let it happen. Forget the things that they're trying to teach you about the world. Even the Jewish Judaizers are coming in and trying to give you the basic principles of the world that they learned in their Jewish law and put that on you. No, no, don't do it. It's Christ. You don't need philosophy. You don't need circumcision. You don't need the law. You need Christ. Only Christ. Don't go for these other things. You were circumcised with a circumcision that's made without hands. You already have it. He's talking to the Gentiles here, of course. You already have what the Jews had. You see, for the Jewish circumcision to be valid, it had to be a perfect person to go along with it, and we couldn't have that. You've got to keep all of the law. Instead, as we've talked about before, Christ comes in, lives his life through you, and gives you that circumcision made without hands. And Jesus has just wiped out the handwriting of requirements. That whole law has just been written off. We don't need it. It's nailed to His cross. Verse 15, He's disarmed the principalities and powers. Everybody that was trying to kill Him is now disqualified and gone. And He triumphed over them in His resurrection. Those that killed Him will be killed themselves, but He resurrected. He triumphed. And so, don't let anybody judge you. in anything. You have already got Jesus Christ in you. He's already living His life and keeping the law through you. So don't let somebody come along and try to put you under Jewish legalism again about a particular food you're supposed to eat or a particular holiday you've got to keep. No, no, no. That's just a shadow. It's all been fulfilled in Christ. And you already have Christ. You don't need those things anymore. Don't let them take your reward from you by putting you back under the law. Because they aren't holding fast to the head who is Christ. Stay away from it. Stay away from it. Treat them like the plague. They're trying to tell you, don't touch, don't taste, don't handle, don't do this, don't do that. It's not from God. Those things are finished. And it has an appearance of wisdom, verse 23. It looks holy. It looks religious, but it's a false humility. Oh, neglecting the body, you're fasting because of a certain holiday in the Jewish tradition, and if you don't do this, you're not a true Jew. Don't believe it anymore. No. It has no value against the indulgence of the flesh just because you're fasting to keep the law. No. No, if you fast, you do it because Christ is in you saying to fast. He's got something better for you. He'll tell you when. And you won't be suffering through wondering where your next meal is going to be either. You won't be hungry or thinking about your hunger all the time. You'll be thinking only of Christ during that time. Let's go back to the question sheet. What does Paul know of the Colossians and from whom? Well, he knows of their faith, their love for the saints. He knows it from Epaphras. Number two, in what ways is Christ to be preeminent? Always, through creation, church, the whole reconciling process. Number three, what is the now revealed mystery? Again, it's Christ in you. We skipped over it this time, but it's in chapter 1, verses 24 to 29. Four, how did Paul see the Colossians? He had never met them. Well, it was in the Spirit. Number five, what is Paul's answer to the empty philosophies of his day and our day? You don't need it. You're complete. in Him. And His answer to Jewish legalism? All law is just a shadow. It's a preview. Christ is the substance. And number seven, what is His answer to earth-centered, human-centered religion? Again, Christ is all you need. Let's go to chapter three. We're suddenly in the second half of this book. We're in the second half of this book. In the second half, it's just like the second half of Ephesians. He says, it goes into the practical things. Now, because of all this, because you were raised with Christ, and that's what chapters 1 and 2 are talking about, the resurrection of Christ and your resurrection with Him. Because of that, seek Christ. Jesus is the focus of this book. Set your mind on things above. You die. Your life is hid with Christ like a bank deposit. It's safe in heaven. Your life is safe. You can give it to Him. He'll bring it back when He comes with Him. Put to death your members. You don't need to do any of those things anymore. You don't owe your flesh anything. Lay it down. You're just heaping up wrath. And He goes through all these things that they've got to put off again. Anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language, lying. The whole old man. Put it off. And put on the new man. It's the same as efficiency. Verse 12. Therefore, put on, put on. Here's the new man. Tender mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, bearing with one another, forgiving one another. Just like Christ did for you, you do for them. Love is the top of the list. Verse 14. The very bond of perfectness. Put it on and let it rule. And you notice how many times in visions and collages the word let or allow is used. Allow it. You've got to allow it. God won't force himself on you. You've got to allow these things to come in. The peace of God won't just force his way into your heart. You let it in through the Word of God speaking to you. In verse 16, the Word of Christ. It's got to be allowed to dwell in you richly. How? Well, there it is again. Psalms, hymns, spiritual songs. Notice how much of this is the same. Wives, the same in verse 18. 19, the same for husbands. 20, the same for children. There's little variations here. You should read it. Fathers, the same. Servants, he goes through the same list. And he ends up in chapter 4, verse 1, with the masters. I want to ask that you read that one on your own as we go on to the rest of chapter 4. Continue in prayer. He's giving just a practical list of things that every Christian ought to be doing. Pray for us also, because I want a door for the Word of God to open. I want to be able to speak the mystery of Christ, and I need you to pray about that. I want to go... I know I'm in jail now, but I don't have to stay in jail all my life. I want you to pray that I will have an open door for the Word. Even while I'm in a prison, I can have an open door. Let your speech always be with grace, verse 6, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. The grace starts in your thoughts, folks. The grace starts in the thought process. Get that salt in there, and it'll come out right. That's what he's saying. Finally, the greetings, as in many of his epistles. Tychicus, who we heard about in Ephesians, is mentioned here again. tell you all the news about me. I'm sending him to you for this very purpose." And Anesimus, who's the owner of Philemon, remember? Well, you don't remember, perhaps. We're going to talk about that little book next. Faithful and beloved brother, I want you to send greetings. Aristarchus is my prisoner here in Rome. And Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, if he comes to you, welcome him. That's a switch, isn't it? There was a problem that Paul and Mark had at one time. That problem is past, and he wants people to welcome Mark now. He'll talk more about him in another verse. We'll have another time. And a man named Jesus, who's called Justice. These are the only fellow workers that I have that are Jewish people, he says, that are with me. They're quite a comfort. Then Epaphras, who's one of you, a Gentile, a servant of Christ, he greets you. So he lists the Jews that are greeting and the Gentiles that are greeting. He's laboring for you. I want to tell you about him. He has such a zeal for you, this Epiphrastos. He loves you so much. And also he loves the Laodicean church. So these churches had some good leaders. We don't know all these men that were being raised up all over the earth, according to Paul. Luke greets you. Demas greets you. Later on we'll hear about Demas falling away. We don't know if it was forever, but we do know that he fell away. But right here he's still warm with the Lord. When this epistle is read, verse 16, I want you to see that it's read also over in Laodicea. So this church, the book of Colossians could be called the book of Colossians, Laodiceans. And likewise, read the epistle from Laodicea. Well, we don't know about that one. That one seems to be lost in history. And then a word of encouragement. We don't know who Archippus was. Don't know anything about him, really. But when this word of encouragement goes out to him, I feel it coming into my heart, too. Maybe you will, too. He says, Archippus, you need to take heed to the ministry that you've gotten in the Lord and do it. Just do it. You know, that's encouraging. Maybe it wasn't a big thing and maybe Archippus was very discouraged about it. Didn't want to go on with it. He says, go ahead, Archippus. Don't stop now. You've put your hand to the plow. Carry on. And then he signs the letter himself. Remember my chains, he says. Remember my chains. And then these final questions. List some additional things to put off in this letter that weren't mentioned before. Well, fornication is the one main thing that is different in this letter. Number nine. And to put on some new things. The new man he mentions. And love especially. That's different than Ephesians. Music is also a way to have what in you? The Word of Christ. Number eleven, what is our responsibility to those on the outside? It's wisdom and good speech. Twelve, who is Onesimus? He's a brother and a former owner of Philemon. I'm sorry. I got it backwards, didn't I? You can't correct me until I correct myself. The way we're set up here. Onesimus was the slave, wasn't he? He was the former servant. of Philemon, who Paul writes a letter to. Who is there at the jail with Paul? We've got Aristarchus, Mark, Justus, Epiphras, and Luke, and Demas. And 14, what other church will read this letter? That's Laodicea. Well, we finished another written lesson. Yes, we're going very quickly, but I've been telling you all along that this is a Bible survey. I just want to whet your appetite. If you love the Lord, and if you're hungry for Him, you're going to go back. You're going to read these things and meditate on them day and night until it becomes a part of the way you live. You'll come to a point that one brother has where he goes through and marks all the commands that are in the Bible with a C, so he can know exactly what the Lord wants him to do. And there's all kinds of C's all over his Bible. How about yours? Yeah, there's a lot of things that the Lord wants from us. What is it that He wants you to do next? It would be very easy to find something in Ephesians and collages, wouldn't it? May God give you grace to do that this day. Talk to you again next time.