Colossians chapter 1, verses 1 and 2. Here again God's holy word. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colossae, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. If you haven't figured it out yet, you will. And that is that the Church of Christ, the visible people of God, those who claim the name of Christ, are very diverse. I'm not talking about skin color. I'm not talking about gender. I'm not talking about economic status, though that would be true as well. I'm talking about something that's actually not good. There is a lot of different types of Christians. And it can be a source of discomfort. It can be a source of doubt. Because we're so different. I'm not speaking from a theological perspective. I'm not speaking from an actual perspective. Because Christ's church is one. But visibly, because of sin, because of the devil, because of theological error, there are different types of Christians. And I just, kind of for the sake of curiosity, I googled a few things. It was just some slight modifications. Google reports five main types of Christians across the whole globe. Roman Catholic, Protestants, Eastern Orthodox, other Oriental Orthodox churches, and then the cults, the non-Trinitarians. And then what makes it even more confusing on the question of who God's people are, take Protestants for a moment. There are, in my estimation, eight different types of Protestants. You have Lutherans, you have the Reformed on the continent of Europe, you have Anglicans, Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, you have Pentecostals, you have Independents, and go on. I could keep going. And at the outset, from the eye's perspective, The question is, who are God's people? Who are these people? Are we God's people? And only God's people because we're reformed Presbyterians? I'm glad to say that's not the case. We don't believe that to be the case. But perhaps you've wondered, I mean, who are God's people? What are they like? It can be discouraging to see the mixture And these two verses, if we slow down and we think about the context of scripture, we think about the context of the letter that Paul has written, these two verses tell us much about ourselves. They tell us much about who God's people are. 2,000 years ago, Christ came. He worked redemption for his people. He died. He rose again. He ascended into heaven. He poured out His Spirit upon His church. And men like Paul went out. The church as a whole, but especially the apostles, went out and they shared the gospel. We read a bit about that in the reading from Acts 18 and 19. At this point in time, the gospel is going out to the Jews across the Mediterranean and other places and also to the Gentiles. Paul is not their pastor. He's never been to, he never went to Colossae. We don't have a reason to believe that. And yet he wrote a letter to them addressing certain issues. And I want to take a moment, take the first sermon to give you, in some sense, an overview of the whole letter. to give you an idea of where we're going in this series, but also to speak to you specifically from these two verses and answer the question, who are God's people? Who are we? What we'll learn from these two verses is that God's people, they are in various relationships with one another. They are in, but not of the world. And they are bestowed with many heavenly gifts. God's people are in various relationships with one another. They are in, but not of the world. And they are given, they are bestowed heavenly gifts. And I want to bring this lesson to you under four points. And the first point is found in verse one. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother. There are two relationships here that represent really various relationships. God's people are in relationship with one another. They have communion. And the first relationship here is one of authority. There is a structure. Paul, he doesn't just say that he's a bondservant of Jesus Christ, like he says to some of the other epistles, he reminds them of his office. He is an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. An apostle of Jesus Christ. Now there are actually many apostles. We look at the New Testament and we take a look at that word, that Greek word. Actually, there's a lot of Apostles. Christ is an Apostle. It's the biblical language, is all I'm saying. The idea is being sent from someone. There's confusion on this because there's actually people who think there are still Apostles now. And they do things they shouldn't be doing. What Paul is saying is, he's saying, listen, Christ was sent Although Christ was sent by the Father in a very unique way, He was an Apostle in a very unique way, and even though there may be a sense in which other people are Apostles and they're sent out by churches, they would be missionaries. I am an Apostle of Jesus Christ. I have been ordained. I have met Him. Very different. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 13 10, Therefore I write these things being absent, thus being present I should use sharpness according to the authority which the Lord has given me for edification and not for destruction. And though there are no more apostles, apostles in this sense being those who have met Jesus and who were commissioned by Him, there are still people that Christ has given His church to shepherd them and to lead them and to rule over them and the Lord I want to take a moment just to notice that Paul, a man, a human, reminds the people who he is in this relationship. Now, in another letter, Paul reminds the church in Philippi that there's elders and there's deacons, continuing officers in the church. And the author of Hebrews says, obey your leaders, be submissive. I don't want you to think about that relationship. Whether someone be Baptist, or a Methodist, Presbyterian, God's people, because they know Christ to be wise, because they know they need help, because they're humble fundamentally, they recognize human leadership. They recognize authority. I want you to think about that. Christians, though they have pastors and preachers and elders who are not perfect, they esteem them highly for Christ's sake, for their work's sake. I want you to think about yourself for a moment. Whether you are a Christian, who you esteem highly, those who rule over you in the Lord." This is a relationship. This is a relationship that God's people are in. There's also another relationship. Notice in this letter that Paul makes a point to introduce Timothy. Now Timothy is not an apostle. He's not said to be an apostle. Even though sometimes Paul in this letter uses the word we, He speaks authoritatively for himself. We'll notice in verse 24 of chapter 1 he does this. He goes back to the first person singular. Timothy doesn't share in his authority. He's mentioned here by way of greeting, by way of love. He may not have known them face to face, but he traveled with Paul regularly. And he introduces Timothy by way of love, by way of greeting. But he calls him, and this is the point, a brother. Now this is maybe a basic idea, but I don't want to over overstep it. I want you to think about the relationships that you're in, and Timothy, our brother. God's people are a family. All of you, especially you who have covenanted with one another, who have joined this church, you're a family. We have spiritual fathers, we have spiritual mothers, There are spiritual brothers and sisters in this room. Christ says in Matthew 12, 50, for whoever does the will of my father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother. Paul tells Timothy, he says, listen, do not rebuke an older man, but appeal to him as a father. to older women as mothers, to younger men as brothers, and younger women as sisters. I want you to think about the people in this room. I want you to think about those in this room who you look over, you watch over, that you care about, that you, in conversation, are asking questions to see how they're doing because you are their spiritual father or mother in some sense. You're caring for them. Perhaps you're just a brother or a sister. You're coming alongside them. Do you have people in this congregation that you open up to, that you seek help from? I hope that you seek my help. I hope that you seek the other elders help and counsel, but you can also go to one another for encouragement. And those who are God's people recognize that it's not just them, their Bible and Jesus. but God has given them the church. And they make the church a priority in their relationships. They not just come to church on Sunday morning, on Sunday evening, but they pray for one another, they check up on one another on occasion, they call, they have people, they have them over for fellowship. They center their life around God and his people. This is what is being said here. It's a theme in Scripture. I want you to think about the relationships that you're in. Do you identify with these things? Do you have someone you're caring for, you're looking out for, that you're discipling? Do you have someone that you're learning from? Do you have someone that you confide in and share with? God's people are in a family. They are in various relationships with one another. One of the marks of God's people. Now, God's people can also be defined in another sense. I want to speak to you in a moment about how God's people are located in the world. Another basic Basic point, but what I really mean by that is that it's a troublesome world. They face various troubles in this world. You're in Fresno and you're in California in America 2018. You face problems because of that. Now verse 2 says that he's addressing those, and what's interesting is in the Greek, this comes up front, it's first, it's paramount, to those in Colossae. It's a location. The church can be defined in this way. The larger catechism says, what is the visible church? The visible church is a society, okay, society made up of all such as in all ages and places of the world do profess the true religion and of their children. If we combine the first point with this idea, we're looking at a certain idea and this is the idea. One of the problems with the diversity of God's people, is there's confusion on this. And the idea is that, well, I'm a Christian, I believe in Jesus, and I have a Bible study that I go to at Waffle House twice a month. And that's my church. And we might change places every once in a while, and I might move, but I have fellowship with them. And the problem is we gotta put things together here. There's a location, there's a place where God's people are salt and light, where they covenant with one another under elders. It's a society. And it's something to note. He's talking to those who don't struggle with maybe a certain issue. Like heresy, listen, heresy was all over the Mediterranean. He's not addressing a certain type of Christian in that sense. He's not addressing maybe certain Christians with certain gifts or an age bracket. He's addressing a place. Part of the nature of the church. And in this place, they have problems. Colossi faced a problem. A contemporary trial that we don't face. It was a Gnostic Jewish problem. Gnosticism was an ancient heresy slash error that focused on knowledge. The word, the Greek word for knowledge is gnosis, and that's where it comes from. And you have a lot of wording in this epistle about Christ, in him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Paul is refuting this error. There were teachers and there were people in the church in Colossae who had a kind of a spiritual elitist idea. We know it better. We're going to have salvation by knowledge. That was the idea of Gnostics. We see this throughout the Epistle. There was the idea that part of the Gnostic idea, this is the contemporary problem they faced, was that the body is inherently evil. Because the body is inherently evil, what we need to do is we need to separate from it. We need to be very disciplined and monastic. There was this ascetic idea. So in chapter 2 you have a reference to verse 21 says, verse 20 says, Paul says, Therefore if you died with Christ, in the basic principles of the world, why is the living in the world? Do you subject yourselves to regulations? Do not touch Do not taste, do not handle. This was the contemporary problem. Because of this, they needed angels. God needs angels. He can't come down to us. He can't be physical. They had a problem with the incarnation. And so we need angels. We need to worship angels. So you have in chapter 2, you have a reference to that. Verse 18, let no one cheat you for your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels. I'm getting some of this information from well-known, documented history about the first century. Gnosticism was very prevalent. We see it coming out. Think about the false teaching you have. that's around us now. It's not like this, but this was their contemporary problem. It also had a Jewish flavor to it. Now the church in Colossae was both Greek and Jewish. One of the reasons why we know it was Jewish is because they struggled a little bit with Judaism and rightly understand the Old Testament. So you have a reference to Sabbaths, verse 16. So let no one judge you in food or in drink or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbath. Some of the teachers were saying you have to keep all those Old Testament festivals. All those Sabbaths. There's probably a reference to as well to circumcision in verse 11. It seems that they had an improper understanding of this. This is their problem. This is the contemporary issue. By God's grace, this is not necessarily something that we struggle with in Fresno, either in this congregation. I'm talking about the specific issues of Gnosticism and Judaism. But we do face contemporary problems that result from living in a certain place in a certain time. We are under the attack of the wicked one. We are under the attack of the wicked one. Here's something to think about. Do you ever say, you know, looking at church history or just maybe looking at your parents and your grandparents or someone, you've heard someone say, well, they were a product of their time. I'm a product of my time. And you're a product of your time in the sense that you face issues that are upon you because you live in Fresno. The Colossians didn't face these issues. Now I could go on tangents about, you know, the relativism in our society and how we don't even know what gender is anymore. And we don't know, you know, it looks like a nine to me, it looks like a six to you. I don't know what it is. You can believe what you want, what's true to you is true to you. And I could go on and on about the different trials that we face and the problems we face. But I want you to think about just the fact that you are under attack, that you do face issues, that you do have a need to be sober-minded. One of the reasons why I make the habit, and other men like me, of preaching from God's Word is because I have nothing new to say to you. I simply want to declare to you what God has already said. And so I hope that you find that as an example. I hope that you and your own encouragement and counseling of your fellow brothers and sisters that you do that. But also when I challenge you, how do you know that what I'm saying is true? Heretics use the Bible. One of the reasons why I've said, and I want you and the other elders want you to read your Bible, It's because though you might not be able to explain the Westminster Confession of Faith and be able to do apologetics and all these different things, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. You can hear the voice of Christ. There are Christians and I don't think them to all not be Christians. who believe that it's appropriate for a Christian to live in a homosexual lifestyle. And I'm not going to condemn all of them who have that understanding. Now, the Bible clearly condemns it. What's the problem? Their pastor doesn't, and they're not reading their Bible. They're in a particular place. They face a particular problem. God's people have a need to be sober. They're under attack. God's people are under attack. They face problems. I want to make one other mention, one other thing about this. I find very helpful. It's not just that we face contemporary problems in our city, just like they did in Colossae. It's more specific than that. They faced internal problems. It's just a passing comment to the whole pistol. Internal. What I mean by this is that Paul does not say the heretics, or if you want to use that word, the teachers that are in error, are not Christians. I want you to think about it for a second. Think about the letter to Galatia. Who has bewitched you, foolish Galatians, that you would go after another gospel? Paul was very strong to them. But in this epistle, he's not as strong. He certainly condemns it. There's internal problems. These people call themselves Christians. They don't put aside Christ, they just marginalize him. And so thus the epistle's theme is the sufficiency of Christ for all things. One commentator put it this way. Nowhere in the epistle are they branded as unbelievers, or spoken of as unconverted antagonists of the gospel. Their error was not in denying, but in dethroning Christ. Not in refusing, but in undervaluing his death and in seeking peace and purity by means of ceremonial distinctions and rigid mortifications. An internal problem. Wolves in sheep's clothing. This is the problem that you face. This is one of the reasons why you need to be in God's word, holding close to him, not believing everything you read, even if it's from a Christian. God's people are in the world, and they're at war. But they're also marked in relation to the world in another way. Again, who are God's people? The Baptists? Presbyterians are God's people? Or is it a little bit more nuanced than that? Thirdly, God's people, though they be located in the world, they are separate from it. They're not of the world. Verse two, it's not just to those in Colossae in general, but to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ. They're separate from the world. They have been sanctified. They've been put aside for a special use. This is what the word saints means. It became a special term that's used. It's literally to the holy ones. But it's not meant to suggest piety and Christian maturity. It's meant to be God doing something to these people and pulling them out of the world and separating them, sanctifying them. So in 1 Corinthians 1 verse 2, the way that Paul says it there is, to the church of God, which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, call to be saints. It includes faithful brethren. It included unfaithful brethren. Those who still call upon the name of Christ. It includes children of believers. You'll notice that when Paul addresses in chapter 3 the household, he addresses the children. So our definition of the visible church is to those who call upon the name of the Lord and of their Children. Now, I say it includes those who are are not true, Christians who don't have faith, because that's exactly how the Bible communicates this idea. I want you to think about it for a moment. Paul says, or John says in 1 John, they came out from us, but they were not of us. For if they were of us, they would have continued with us. But they came out from us, did it not manifest that they were not of us? Now, that was true before they made that known. And all of this includes the idea of sanctification. Think about the Old Testament, the Old Testament people of God. Israel, ethnic Israel, depending on what time of history you want to look at, were unfaithful to God. But they were still God's people. All those who claim the name of Christ, whether they be a liberal church, in some sense even the Roman Catholic Church, they're still set apart and sanctified. by Christ. But he also addresses faithful brethren. That's what I want you to think about a little bit more. To the saints and faithful brethren. Now Paul is hinting at the idea that there's people at Colossae who aren't faithful. I'm speaking to the faithful brethren. Those who, though attacked by false doctrine, though they're at war with their own lust and their own flesh, They, by God's grace, by the Spirit of God, are loyal to Him and are faithful to Him and strive to love Him and live for Him. One of my favorite American battles, since it's Memorial Day I need to mention this, is the Battle of Bastogne. World War II in Europe. 101st Airborne Division. I can't remember how long it was, but through the toughest part of winter, in the snow, with very little food, very little ammunition, surrounded by Germans in the middle of a very strong German counterattack in the European theater. They held their ground. They were loyal. They were faithful. They did not give up. They were under attack. And when George Patton's Third Army came up, he found them in a terrible situation, but they were there, and they were holding on. That's what God's people are like. They're faithful, though hard providence has come into their life, they trust God is wise, though there be false doctrines and people go astray, they maintain the faith. This is what's. This is a mark of God's people. They maintain the faith. They follow his word. I want you to think about that. One of the reasons why it's hard to kind of know who the people of God are is because of hypocrisy. There's a lot of unfaithfulness in the church. The doctrine certainly is part of it and it kind of feeds into it. It's also just their life. I remember speaking to a friend, a good man outwardly in the army years ago. Loves his wife, loves his kids, still does. Very honorable person, respectful person. Why do I need to be a Christian? I'm more moral than half the people that I know who are Christians. God's people fundamentally follow Him. Though they make mistakes, and though they sin, they just hold on. I want to ask you, are you holding on? Are you faithful? Listen, you're under attack. I know you're under attack. If you don't think you're under attack, beware. You're in Colossi. There's false teaching everywhere. There's people who are trying to pull you aside. God wants you just to be faithful. Just hold on. Just hold on. Pray. If you're struggling, pray. Get help from your brothers and sisters, from your pastor, from your elders. Just hold on. Be faithful. That's who God's people are. You want to know who God's people are? Listen, they can be Methodist. They can be Baptist. Okay? I can mention more. They're faithful. But there's one more mark. There's one more characteristic. It's not an additional denomination or something like that. It's another trademark. It's something that I find to be most helpful and most encouraging. It's that God's people are bestowed with heavenly gifts. Heavenly gifts. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to you. Paul does not say that to the world. Grace to you. Now grace is unmerited favor. It's unmerited. I remember being 13 years old. I was trying to run, learn how to jog. And my neighbor was a fireman. And he just took a lichen to me. And he would take me on a jog twice a week. And he bought me pizza. He'd hang out with me. He was my friend. I don't know why he did that. He just was gracious to me. I didn't do anything to earn it. He just gave it to me. God's people, they receive unmerited favor and blessing. That's why it's grace to you. It's just received. You don't earn it. All of you, or many of you, go throughout the week working, and you expect your boss to give you a paycheck because you earned it. It's not the case with God. It's grace to you. God has poured out upon His people, through Christ, grace. He's given them new life, so they have eyes to see. So they have eyes to see the Scriptures and understand it. He gives them faith to follow. He gives them the forgiveness of sins. He gives them all of Christ's righteousness. He preserves them in their faith. He gives them the Holy Spirit, who then gives you peace and joy and self-control. All this is grace. And those in Colossae, those in Fresno, who are not saints and faithful brethren, do not receive that. God has given grace to His people. and peace. And peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now peace is not just the idea of a lack of trouble or something quiet. It's more than that. It's well-being. It's the welfare. It's certainly in a spiritual sense giving priority. Notice the order. The order is important. I want to just mention to you the order for a second. A lot of people, I mean I would say pretty much everybody in this world wants peace. But not everyone's going, seeking for peace in God. And first through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. They seek for peace in another God or maybe peace through work or peace through a relationship or something. There's people going after peace Trying to get peace, but they first need the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to think about that for a moment. Are you seeking peace from somewhere other than God and through God's grace to you? Now, but I also want you to think about this. Peace for a moment. Who has a guilty conscience? Who's ever had a guilty conscience? Who's ever sped on the interstate? You violated a law of the land, and you're guilty. Well, guess what? Coming out of the womb, you're guilty of violating the law of the living, holy, all-powerful God who rules every inch of this earth. You have peace? Are you scared? Listen, all of you, every single one of you, you're going to appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done, whether it be good or evil. And for some people, when they come to realize that, it freaks them out. It's scary. But not for God's people. They have peace with God. They know that when they get to the judgment seat, they have an advocate. Their sins have been forgiven. Their conscience has been washed clean because of the blood of the Lamb. And all those other people in Colossae cannot say that, and they do not have peace. I know that you have concerns. You have afflictions. You have trials. You have pain. But if you're in Christ Jesus, you have peace with God. He's forgiven you of all of your sins. And when you die, And when Christ comes back, you'll rise again and you'll live with God forever in peace. That's who God's people are. They're bestowed with heavenly gifts, heavenly gifts. God's people are in various relationships. They're in the world, but not of the world. and are bestowed with many heavenly gifts. I want you to think for a moment about the question, who are God's people? And I want you to think about that experimentally. Does this message in these words resonate with you? Maybe you really don't like the idea of authority. and church membership and and and you know all the whole that can just that just kinda wigs you out. Is that consistent with the scriptures? I want you to think about whether you are a Christian, whether you are God's people experimentally. I want you to think about that. I also want you to think about it in this perspective. You are at war. You're under duress. You're troubled. You're facing issues right now. I may not even know about them. Your spouse may not know about them. But I want you to think about the fact that in the midst of all that, Christ has died for you and God in Him has given you peace. I want you to be thankful. I want you to thank the Lord Jesus, that you're not someone in Colossae, someone in Fresno, who doesn't know the Lord. You're God's people, and you're saved, and you're heaven bound. Let the redeemed of the Lord give thanks. Let them say so, for God has redeemed them. from the adversary. Give thanks. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for your salvation. We do not grow weary in praising you and giving you thanks for our salvation. Father, we do not grow weary in worshiping you every Sunday here in this building together, praising you for your mighty works. For though we were poor, yet while we were sinners, we know that your son, Jesus Christ, died for us. We know that you have separated us from the world by grace, because of grace, and you have given us peace and we thank you. We worship you. Father, we ask that there would be no one here this morning that would be deceived on who the people of God are and who they are and whether they are really a member of God's people. Father, we pray that you would give them faith, that you would give them repentance to the Lord Jesus Christ, that they would be convinced that you are merciful and gracious. You're eager to forgive those who come to you through Christ. Father, give us hearts that are thankful. Though we be weary, though we be afflicted, give us thankful hearts. Give us eyes that look upward, that set our minds on things above where your son is, sitting at your right hand. For we ask in Jesus's name, amen.